


The Konoha Twelve

by noirshitsuji



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Study, Coming of Age, Crack, Epic, Epic Friendship, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humour, Hurt & Comfort, Iwagakure | Hidden Stone Village, Konoha 12 are One Big Team, Konohagakure | Hidden Leaf Village, Missions, Naruto's Birthday, OOC, Orochimaru Being Orochimaru (Naruto), Out of Character, Plot, Sasuke doesn't leave, Suspense, Team Bonding, Training, Uchiha Sasuke Returns to Konoha, Undercover Missions, character backstory, mild body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 61,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27197393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noirshitsuji/pseuds/noirshitsuji
Summary: "Well, let's just say that there are quite a few people out there who aren't exactly happy about you being back. Surprisingly, committing treason and nearly killing Konoha's newly-beloved blond idiot can have some people pretty intent on beating you up." Every Hokage has had the chance to create a legend. For Tsunade, this was it.Originally posted on FF net between the dates given here. Reposted to AO3 on 24/11/2020. Feel warned.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Dai-hachi-han | Team 8 & Dai-ju-han | Team 10 & Gai-han | Team Guy, Hyuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Neji/Tenten, Inuzuka Kiba/Yamanaka Ino, Konoha 12 & Konoha 12, Konoha 12 & Tsunade, Nara Shikamaru/Temari, Uchiha Sasuke/Haruno Sakura
Kudos: 2





	1. Realizations

**Author's Note:**

> 24/11/2020: This was my first big multichap, written between the ages of 14 & 16\. I'm uploading it here from ff net because I'm planning on deleting that account but I know some people still read and like it. Don't get your expectations up, though. I'll be fixing the tags soon, and I've kept all the Author's Notes in, too, for an authentic feeling. No editing is to be had here. 
> 
> I hope you can find some enjoyment in it.

**A/N: _So, we meet again. I am sorry for the long wait. I have 10.5 chapters mostly ready and they will all be coming out in the next few weeks. School is starting, but I don't have any intention of putting this story on hiatus again (or never again, for that matter). I would recommend that you read the rewritten chapter because quite a few things are different, especially in the first few. With that, I leave you with the first chapter of the new version of the Konoha 12!_**

**Disclaimer:** _**I do not own Naruto.** _

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

**Realizations**

Kakashi jumped from tree to tree, praying that he wouldn't be too late. The weird black clouds worried him a lot, like the strange energy that he had felt earlier. He just hoped that his students hadn't went overboard and used any lethal attacks.

(Not that Naruto would unless in a last case scenario, but the Copy-nin sometimes wasn't so sure about Sasuke.)

Upon reaching 'The Valley of the End', Kakashi realized that there _was, in fact,_ a God somewhere out there.

As soon as he dropped next to the two unconscious boys, the rain stopped. He surveyed his surroundings, noting that the valley looked like a battlefield. A recently used one at that - there were large holes in the cliffs, water everywhere and it didn't seem it was there just because of the rain. He looked at the boys once again.

Sasuke's cursed mark was slightly pulsating, indicating that it had been used soon. Other than that, his clothes we torn up and he had cuts and bruises all over his body.

And a single scratch right across his forehead.

Although his students weren't in any condition to be happy about, he smiled slightly under his mask.

_That Naruto._

That day on the rooftop he hadn't arrived luckily on time - in fact, he had watched the whole fight up to the point when his male students had decided to use deadly attacks against each other with Sakura trying to stop them, coming inbetween. He had heard the whole conversation before and during the fight.

Kakashi couldn't really blame Sakura for what she had done - he knew, although she tried to hide it, that she felt like a nuisance to the team, and that she was _not_ going to let them die on her watch. However, two days ago she had become the Hokage's appreantice and, from what he had heard, she was showing a long-hidden talent. He was really proud of her, although he had no reason to be - he had nothing to do with her current success. He knew that being a medical ninja would be best for her due to her perfect chakra control and already good first-aid knowledge, and the alternative - being a Genjutsu user, - didn't look too bad either. He was sorry that he had focused so much on Sasuke and Naruto and not on her, even when he had his reasons.

And her natural physical strength was something to be reckoned with, too. At times, he had felt sorry for Naruto.

Speaking of whom, at first sight, was in more serious condition than Sasuke - he had a hole in his shirt, where he was probably pierced with the Chidori. However, Kakashi then noted that he didn't have _any_ cuts or bruices like Sasuke and there wasn't a single mark on the shoulder where his clothes had torn. The jounin figured out that Naruto had used the Nine Tails' help for the fight, which led him to believe that Sasuke had somehow strengthened the mark's effects - after all, from the times he had seen him with using the power, he knew that the seal wouldn't help him much against Naruto, who used a demon. The Copy-nin was sure of it.

Without further ado, he lifted both of the boys on his shoulders - Sasuke on the right, Naruto on the left, - and headed to Konoha, meeting with a medical team along the way. The medic-nins went with Kakashi at the hospital, where Sakura was waiting. She had a serious face on, but, once she looked at her teammates, her features softened. He heard her whisper to them, "Welcome home," as she went to do her duties. He might have seen her eyes watering, but he wasn't going to make a problem out of it.

* * *

Somewhere in the back of his mind, just before he passed out due to the power created by the collision of the Chidori and the Rasengan, Sasuke thought that he was going to wake up greeted by a _big_ headache.

Surprisingly, he didn't.

He woke up, feeling fine, albeit a bit dizzy. _Morphin._ Soon after the effects of the drug started to subside and Sasuke was once again able to think clearly.

He looked around himself and found out that he was once again in the 'Konoha Hospital', a place with which he had became too familiar with lately. He started replaying his memories from the past few months - the Chūnin Exams, his fights with Naruto, Kakashi's words, Orochimaru's subordinates' words, the first and only time he met Orochimaru and the power of the newly second-stage cursed mark.

And Sasuke realized how messed up his life had become, and how he wasn't exactly making it better.

There was more than one reason why he had left (or tried to). Yes, revenge had played a big role, but there were other things.

There was Naruto's growth in strength. He had managed to beat Gaara, Kiba, Neji, beat that ninja from the Rain country Aoi, the Water guys that hadn't been bothering them since the Chunin exam, he managed to beat Sasuke _himself._

There was the look of admiration in Sakura's eyes the day he told her that Naruto had been the one who saved them from the Sand. A look, which, for some reason, made him feel slightly annoyed.

Then there were, of course, Itachi's words towards him - he was not interested in fighting him, he still thought that his little brother was weak. And he was after Sasuke's friend.

Sasuke assumed that Naruto's strength came from the mysterious red chakra, but he knew it was more than that. Although he hadn't seen Naruto's fights during the chunin exam, he had heard about them from his team enough to know what it was that made Naruto so strong.

It was Naruto's determination to prove _something._

To Kiba, he had proved that he was _not_ the Academy's clown anymore, the boy that couldn't even do a **Henge** properly.

To Neji, he had proved that hard work can beat a genius, that he was _not_ a drop-out.

But, to Gaara, Aoi and the others, it was another thing.

He wanted to protect them _,_ Sasuke and Sakura, his teammates, his _friends_.

Sasuke himself had managed to fight the pain from his cursed mark during the match between Naruto and Gaara, the same pain that made him collapse during the Second exam.

As much as he'd wished to deny it, Itachi had been right - there wasn't a lot of hatred in his heart. In fact, ever since he had joined Team Seven, the already present hatred had taken a back seat in his life. Between the missions and quarrels and annoyances, the Chūnin Exams and bone-chilling enemies, Sasuke had started to care for his team.

It was something he had thought would never happen. After all, Sakura was still a weak and rather annoying fangirl, right? And Naruto was the loud-mouthed village idiot, ne?

Wrong. Somewhere over the course of the last few months, they had become his trusted comrades - friends, even, if he ever had ones. Sakura had stopped being so shallow, and had let her natural intelligence shine through. As for Naruto, he had proven himself as a reliable fighter and trustworthy partner in a fight.

So, was going to Orochimaru worth losing them?

Sasuke was not, in fact, doubting the importance of avenging his family; he was merely reconsidering his methods. The Sannin was a reliable source of power - he did, after all, have a personal interest in seeing Sasuke grow to the best of his abilities. But then again, wasn't Kakashi the one who had taught him his strongest technique, who had trusted him enough to use it for good?

_"Those who abandon their mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."_

The genin didn't know how much time he sat on the bed, completely still, looking at the wall opposite himself and just thinking. However much it was, he was interrupted when the door opened.

It was Sakura. She smiled brightly and a little forcefully at the boy, closed the door and walked to the bed.

Sasuke had expected her to start crying, to beg him for a chance, but she didn't.

She just hugged him.

It wasn't the desperate hug she had given him when he had first woken up in the hospital after he had met Itachi, nor was it the fangirl 'clinging' she sometimes did. It was a warm, nice hug. A _friendly_ hug. A little bit tense, like her smile, but a friendly one nevertheless.

Another realization hit him.

Sakura didn't trust him. And how could she, when he was the one who left her on that stupid bench after muttering something suspiciously close to "Thanks, but I'd rather not"?

Before Sasuke could react, the hug was over and she asked him, still smiling, "How are you?"

"I'm okay," he replied in an instant, though the look in her eyes told him that the answer was not, in fact, the correct one, but since when _was_ there a correct one?

"Yeah, sure you are," she said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Two broken ribs, a few pulled muscles, numerous cuts and bruises. As good as new."

Oh. Well, when she put it that way...Wait. Since when was Sakura sassy? Sasuke blinked, thinking it was due to the fact that he was not her favourite person at the moment, and decided to reply in his usual cool voice.

"And how would you know that?"

"I'm helping around. It's part of my training to become a medic-nin under Tsunade-sama," she said, completely serious.

The answer left him surprised, and he didn't bother to hide it. Surprised, and maybe slightly disbelieving. She noticed and laughed at his expression, "Yeah, yeah, I know. But it requires good chakra control and I'm improving quite rapidly. It's been almost two weeks and Tsunade-sama already lets me heal cuts, I can also provide first aid," she said proudly.

Sasuke nodded, "Hn."

After all, he was Sasuke Uchiha and he was _not_ good at communication, so he made other people adapt themselves to having one-sided conversations.

She rolled her eyes at his usual behavior, but grinned slightly. "Oh, by the way," she added in an all-too-cheery tone, "in case you are worried about your safety, don't be. There is an ANBU guarding your door."

He cocked an eyebrow. "And why would I be?"

"Well, let's just say there are quite a few people out there that aren't exactly happy about the fact that you are back. Especially when Naruto and Kakashi have been pleading for all of your crimes to be lifted. Surprisingly, committing treason and nearly killing Konoha's newly-beloved blond idiot can have some people pretty intent on beating you up."

Sasuke shook his head slightly in amusement.

Just before he could reply though, the door burst open and Naruto entered, ANBU yelling behind him. He just smiled and closed the door. Sasuke thought that he saw Kakashi's grey hair, but wasn't sure. The blond boy turned towards the bed where his teammates were looking questioningly at him, but he shrugged the matter off, putting his hands behind his neck in the usual laid-back position and glaring at the Uchiha.

"Teme, you look _nice,"_ Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him, but said nothing. "Still, don't think you can go wander around on your own. There is an ANBU guarding you 24/7."

"If this ANBU can't even stop an idiot like you from entering, then I think that me wandering around would be much safer, thank you."

Naruto dropped his glare after a couple of moments and started chuckling. Sakura followed after him, and Sasuke, for some reason, was on the verge of laughing himself.

Things weren't supposed to be this easy, right? Not when he had betrayed them, nearly killed Naruto and humiliated Sakura. They were not supposed to be laughing like this, together, as if nothing had happened.

It made everything all the more amusing, though. Again, when exactly had his life become so messed up?

"Tha-That's because," Naruto managed to say between laughing. He was almost rolling on the floor now. "That's b-because I-I'm the best ninja ever!"

"Hn," Sasuke replied, but continued smirking, which looked suspiciously like smiling. Sakura was too busy giggling like mad to notice.

After a minute or so, Naruto and Sakura both straigthened up and informed Sasuke of what had happened to the other people on his retrieval mission. Some of them had had tougher fights than others, but ultimately they were all recovering just fine. He still wasn't sure whether it was a good thing that he was back or not, but decided to appreciate the fact that they had basically put their lives on the line for him. In fact, Sasuke actually thought that what he was feeling was suspiciously close to guilt, and a small voice in his head that hadn't been completely corrupted by thoughts of revenge whispered that it was, and that he should be proud to be feeling this way, because there was still hope for himself. Naruto and Sakura both caught his sly smile, and smiled wider in return.

"And what of the Sound Four?" the black-haired boy asked.

"Sound _Five,"_ Naruto corrected him. "There was another member who arrived later. I fought him for bit, then Bushy Eyebrows took him and it turned out Gaara also helped. Choji took on the fat one, Neji - the creepy guy with a lot of arms, Kiba - the guy with two heads and Shikamaru - the girl that wouldn't stop cussing."

"Hn," the Uchiha replied yet again. Secretly, though, he was impressed.

Suddenly, Sakura smacked her forehead, eyes wide as if she had just remembered something, and turned to the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, take your shirt off. I was supposed to have a look at you, but we got distracted. You've been out for about a week and the last time your bandages were changed was yesterday."

Sasuke complied and looked at the bandages covering his chest. Sakura quickly stripped them off and examined his ribs, then the cuts and bruises. He took note both of how methodically she proceeded, only healing one of the bigger cuts and carefully checking the others. He then concluded that Sakura definately had potential, which, to be honest, wasn't all that surprising. After all, her excellent chakra control and observation skills had made themselves clear in the very beginning of the team. She finished, applied new bandages and he pulled his shirt back on. He was about to mutter a "Thanks" when the Godaime Hokage, who was probably the last person that wanted to see him at the moment, walked in.

She didn't bother with the usual greetings and other formalities, and went straight on the offense.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you willingly left the village with Orochimaru's men, fully aware the consequences of your actions," she started, looking at him sternly.

"Yes," it was not a question, but hell, he thought it needed confirmation anyway.

Tsunade nodded, as if expecting the reply, then continued, "You also knew that the official punishment for treason is handling you like any other missing-nin, regardless of background. You were also aware that said punishment is death."

"Yes, I was fully aware."

Tense silence filled the room. Sakura and Naruto had, on instinct, stepped between him and Tsunade. The Godaime Hokage looked at the three genin with a glare that had sent other people of their very rank running for their lives. Naruto held her gaze, but there was a bead of sweat on his forehead, and Sakura gulped slightly, but didn't falter either. Tsunade continued staring at them, but then noticed something flickering in Sasuke's eyes. It was only for a moment, but she could swear-

Nevermind, she thought. It just made her desicion easier.

"Very well then," she stated, dropping her glare. "Fortunately for you, since the village is still recovering from the invasion on the Chūnin Exams, I did not have enough time to declare you officially a missing-nin. Therefore, I have no legal standing to treat you as such. That is the law. I cannot lift crimes that have never been stated officially."

Naruto smiled, and Sakura couldn't hide her happiness either. Sasuke, however, knew not to push it and didn't change his expression. She was letting him off the hook, but why? Was there anything more? Plus, he was still going to receive some kind of punishment, he just knew it.

"However," Ah, there it was. "I cannot leave you wandering around unattended, seeing as you have to prove your loyalty. I will have two jōnin stationed at your house for the next three months or if I deem needed, more. Should you try to betray this village again, you will be declared missing-nin and will face the consequences. Meanwhile, you will be put under a test-period, during which you will have the opportunity to prove your loyalty. Is that understood?"

He nodded, calmly accepting the situation. "Yes. Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade smirked. It was the first time he had ever called her that. Also, he still didn't know what said test-period involved. It was an idea that had occurred to her the week before, the night when he and Naruto were brought back by Kakashi.

Things were going to get interesting.

"Sakura, what is his condition?" Tsunade asked her appreantice.

"His cuts and bruises are mostly healed, but I had to close one of them that had opened," the girl replied, putting a smile on her teacher's face. _She really did have talent._

"Then, Uchiha, you may leave the hospital, but I want you all in the Hokage mansion in two hours, got it?"

"Hai," they all confirmed and Sasuke and Sakura stood from the bed. The two of them briefly contemplated asking, but figured that if Tsunade wanted them to know why she would have told them. Naruto, for his part, was too excited to care.

* * *

"So, you want us all to be a team?" Naruto questioned after Tsunade had finished her speech _._ The boy looked kind of confused, which might have been amusing had Tsunade not just finished a 30 minute lecture on why she thought that Team Seven, Team Eight, Team Ten and Team Gai would make a good battle unit. At least he was able to comprehend it, she thought a bit ticked off. Still, fitting all of her reasons in thirty minutes had taken a lot of speech planning on her side.

She had explained that she knew that the Rookie Nine where all nominated for the Chūnin exam and they had all passed the first and second Exam. Same went for Team Gai. Their fights in the exam had been pretty though from what she had heard, but, nevertheless, the ones that had passed had done brilliantly.

Then there were their fights during the Third exam matches.

Then there were their talents.

Hyuga Neji was his clan's genius, but, from what she had heard from Kurenai, Hinata was starting to improve. Tenten was a weapons master, something uncommon for those times. Lee was a taijutsu master - which also wasn't that common.

The Ino-Shika-Chou formation had been established by Team Ten's great ancestors and their children had their abilities - Ino was good with Mind techniques, Shikamaru - with Shadow ones (also had the intellect of Nara clansmen) and Chouji - with Body extension. The original Ino-Shika-Chou formation had always been exceptionately strong, but Tsunade thought that the new one would prove to be even stronger.

Team Eight were good in tracking - Shino with his insects, Hinata with her Byakugan and Kiba with Akamaru. They could all use their abilities pretty well.

If Team Gai was the oddest one, Team Ten - the one with the best teamwork and Team Eight - the one good at tracking, then Team Seven was the Golden Trio.

Sakura, despite not being from a clan, was really smart, sometimes rivaling the Nara prodigy (as much as one can, of course). She was good at chakra control and genjutsu and was going to become an exceptional medic - Tsunade was sure of it. Also, her natural strength was something to be reckoned with.

Sasuke was from the Uchiha clan, the once most noble clan in Konoha and had natural talent - strength, speed and, of course, the Sharingan. Now, he had the Chidori and training with Kakashi was starting to pay off. Although he had the cursed mark, which was proven to be unstable at times, it was possible to learn to control it even without Orochimaru's help. It could be of great use.

And then there was Naruto.

Tsunade was sure that there were things the genin in the room and Shikamaru (possibly - you could never be too sure with a Nara) didn't know - about the red chakra which he had used in his match against Neji and, apparently, against Sasuke the week before. About all the pain and sadness that his past hid.

But there were things that even Naruto himself didn't know.

He didn't know why he was able to master the Rasengan, why he had more stamina and chakra than most shinobi, why he had managed to read a scroll that only jounin could read and master a technique from it in less than a night, then use it.

The **Kage Bunshin** ninjutsu.

He didn't fully realize what influence (in a good way) he had on the people he met, how he changed their lives. Heck, he even managed to get _Zabuza,_ one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, to cry and confess his deep care for his partner and friend Haku. A man that was rumored to be a demon, one who killed 100 people in one night.

He had even managed to change Tsunade's own mind - which not many, if any, could say to have done. He had also convinced Sabaku no Gaara, after fighting him and winning, that he had a wrong perspective. That had won Konoha a valuable ally.

He probably didn't know that he had a bridge named after him - the Great Naruto Bridge, finished after Team Seven's mission in Wave country.

He didn't know. _Yet._ And how did Tsunade know? Well, the Hokage had her ways.

One of the things he also didn't know was why _he,_ of all people, had the Nine-Tails inside of him. Why his parents had died. But, soon enough, he would know.

And when he realized all of these things, he would know that he was worthy of being a Hokage.

A thing which Tsunade herself believed.

Of course, he still had a lot to learn.

"Yes, Naruto, a team," she replied, then turned to the rest. "What do you think?"

The shinobi exchanged glances. They all thought about what Tsunade had said. And, although they had some issues in their relationships with each other, they all came to the same conclusion.

_They could make it work._

So, when Naruto replied for all of them, no one said a word.

"We'll do it."

* * *

**A/N: _I am kind of peeved about the flow in this one, but it can't be helped. I've definitely gotten better since this story first started, but I still have ways to go. Anyway, what do you think? I changed some of Sasuke and Sakura's interactions (and Team Seven's, for that matter) and Sasuke's thoughts. I hope you guys are happy about how it turned out, at least a little bit. To all new readers, welcome! I'm happy to have you here. I hope you stay with us until the end (which is already pretty much planned, by the way)._**

**_A revised chapter two should be up in the next couple of days. HOO63 out._ **


	2. Never Have I Ever

Tsunade smiled, pleased with the young shinobi's determination. "Good. I appoint this as your meeting room; you all have to gather here _at least_ once a week every Friday, and report about missions, training, and such. Now, I will give you your first mission."

"Isn't it a bit too early for that kind of thing?" Shikamaru interrupted. "After all, we have to first clear our relationships from any issues," he looked at Naruto, who always managed to get in a fight with one of the others (except Hinata, but there was a pretty obvious reason for that). Although he was a good person and loyal friend, his childish attitude was sometimes too troublesome to handle.

"That's exactly what this task is about," the Hokage replied, getting odd looks. "It's to help you to become closer. So, without further ado, the first mission of the Konoha Twelve will be..." she paused, "...to have a sleepover."

"What?" both the boys and girls yelled, some demanding an explanation, the majority confused, with the exceptions of Neji, Shino and Sasuke. Because, for some people, image was everything.

"Listen. To become closer as a team, you need to get to know each other. The fastest way is to spend time together, and a sleepover opens up a lot of opportunities."

"Even so, how should we do that?" Tenten asked, a puzzled look on her face. "Where do we sleep?"

"You can sleep at my place," Sasuke replied nonchalantly, surprising everyone. He wasn't stupid, he knew what he was getting himself into, but he owed the Hokage (and the others, for that matter) _that_ much. "Just be careful not to break anything."

"Don't worry teme, we won't!"

"Dobe, having you in there is _precisely_ the reason I'm worried."

"WHY YOU-"

"Enough," Tsunade interrupted the growling Naruto. "Now go, all of you, pack your stuff and have a nice time. And remember - this mission is for you to get closer, so play games, talk, share, or whatever the hell kids do these days, but clear _any_ issues you might have, understood?"

"Hai," and with that, the newly formed team left to prepare themselves for what they all knew would be a long night.

They all met thirty minutes later in front of the Uchiha compound, Naruto being the last to arrive. He apologized, saying that he had had work to do at home, but Sakura still smacked him lightly, more out of habit and maybe a bit of playfulness than with an intention to hurt him.

While Sasuke watched his two teammates interact, he noted Sakura's changed behavior towards Naruto and stared wondering when had they both changed so much, especially Sakura. Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought that maybe there had been some use in leaving for Orochimaru if it resulted in her growing up some more. Although, her lack of trust in him was worrying, he had to admit.

Sasuke led the way through the huge compound. After the massacre he was offered a place to stay in Konoha, and so he hadn't stepped in his old home in years. However, they were currently walking towards not the grand Uchiha mansion, but to another house on the edge of the compound. As the sole survivor of the clan everything was presumably his, but he did not want to go into his old home, not yet at least. He was told that everything was cleaned, but he did not want to reminisce that night again. He had chosen for them to stay in a mansion that was big enough, but had not been inhabited at the time of the massacre, meaning that it was not blood-stained. Throughout the whole walk everyone had grown silent, and he could feel two steady pairs of eyes on his back. He didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

When Sasuke had first visited the mansion that afternoon, it had been, of course, quite run-down. Luckily for him, he didn't have to clean the whole building by himself, as Kakashi decided to pitch in and had even got the two other jōnin, who were assigned to supervise Sasuke, to lend a hand. It was, by no means, in an ideal condition, but it was habitual enough. Needless to say, the two jōnin were currently outside, getting ready for a long night.

The twelve shinobi inside decided to eat dinner first, since it was nearly seven o'clock, then "start the party" (as Ino had put it) after that.

Naruto, luckily, didn't complain about the lack of ramen and accepted a slice of the three large pizzas Kiba had brought. Chouji had got himself enough food for an entire army, and even shared the desserts with the others.

They ate mostly in silence, except when Naruto accidentally pushed Kiba's plate, who then punched him. They fought a little before Sasuke, Neji and Lee restrained them. After the small commotion, everybody continued eating. Tenten, Ino and Sakura shook their heads at the boys briefly, exasperated, but said nothing.

When they were finished and the dishes were cleaned (Hinata and Tenten had volunteered to do them while Chouji and Sasuke threw the garbage outside) they started brainstorming on what to do.

Ino claped, signaling that she had an idea, of which Shikamaru and Chōji were rightfully suspicious.

"Let's play 'Truth or Dare' or 'Never Have I Ever'," she suggested in a chirp voice. "These games are the funniest and quickest way to find more about each other."

"Also the most humiliating," Shikamaru muttered.

"What, would you prefer Twenty Questions?"

Shikamaru shuddered and Ino smirked triumphantly.

"Okay, let's play, but which one?" Tenten asked, sitting in the circle the twelve had formed on the floor.

"I don't know, let's vote! Who wants to play 'Truth or Dare'?" Ino, Kiba, Lee, Naruto and Hinata raised their hands.

"And who wants to play 'Never Have I Ever'?" the other seven hands flew up in the air, deciding the issue.

"Okay, so the rules are that someone says something that they have _never_ done. If someone else has done it, they should raise their hand. Normally this is a drinking game, because the more you drink, the less possible it is for you to cheat. You cheat when you lie that you have never done anything or when you don't raise your hand. Fortunately, since we are shinobi, we are technically of legal drinking age. Unfortunately, if our senseis found us drinking, things will probably get bad, so not a word of this to anyone, okay? Also, I couldn't bring that a much, so we're only going to have to drink only half a can per round," Ino explained as she pulled out a plastic bag full of cans from her sack. Then, she proceeded to convince the more reluctant members of the group (aka Neji) to take part. Finally, he sighed, saying that it was stupid, but agreeing to participate nevertheless. Ino showed them the beverage for the night.

"Really, Ino? Chūhai?"

"Shut up, Kiba. Now, who wants to be first?"

"I DO, I DO-"

"Naruto, you don't have to scream like that!"

"Sorry, Sakura-chan."

They all sat in the circle and the game began. Naruto grinned evily as he thought of the perfect thing.

"Never have I ever..." he paused for dramatic effect, "had a crush on Sasuke."

At this point, all the girls in the room, except Hinata, raised their hands.

For some reason, Neji didn't like the fact that Tenten was one of those who raised their hands. She had never shown any sign of affection towards the Uchiha, unlike Sakura, who was blushing, and Ino, who was glaring at Naruto. Maybe she had just thought of him as cute, he mused, a bit displeased with the conclusion.

Sakura, Ino and Tenten each drank half a can. Next to Naruto was Hinata, who looked around, trying to think of something. Then, she got it.

"Never have I ever gone on a mission outside the Fire Country."

At that point, the whole Team Seven raised their hands. The others looked at them with questioning looks and they told them about their mission in the Wave Country, about Zabuza and Haku, about Gatou and the villagers. They told them about how Sakura managed to master climbing trees with only her feet at first attempt (she smiled proudly) and how Sasuke and Naruto had to practice a whole week in order to do it. They talked and Sasuke and Naruto got into a fight about who had been better at that. Sakura rolled her eyes at them and got them both cans after finishing hers.

The others noticed the change in the teammates' behavior. Sakura didn't seem like a Sasuke fangirl anymore, she didn't praise him and call out randomly how awesome he was like she had used to. And although that they were fighting, Sasuke and Naruto had slight smirks on their faces, a sign that they were actually _enjoying_ teasing each other. The other teams watched and decided that Sasuke's leaving was what had changed their relationship. Eventually, the story finished, the two boys stopped fighting and the game continued. Team Gai told the brief story of the one time they had gone all around the nations around the Fire Country to search for the Third's favorite brand of tobacco. Neji and Tenten drank their deal, but since Lee couldn't drink (if they wanted to survive the night), he got a point written down on a napkin provided by Shino. Lee swore to never lie during the game, though the others never doubted that he would.

"Never have I ever hugged my crush," it was Ino's turn then. Sakura raised her hand and popped open another can. Surprisingly, Tenten also shot up her hand, raising a few eyebrows. She just smirked and said that it was another story for another day, also opening a new can. Sakura muttered, annoyed at the unfairness of the situation, since she had to spill.

Next was Neji.

"Never have I ever kept an important secret to myself," he said, looking at one person in particular.

The room suddenly became extremely silent. Then, slowly, Shikamaru grabbed a can and drank half of it, while Naruto finished his, face unusually grim.

"Naruto-kun, Shikamaru-kun, you don't have to tell us i-if you're not comfortable sh-sharing," Hinata looked around and everyone nodded. Although Neji had hoped to finally learn what the mysterious red chakra was, he decided not to push it, and instead show support.

"Actually," Shikamaru started slowly, "Naruto, can we talk in private for a moment?"

The blond nodded and the two boys left the room. Ten minutes later, they were back, with Naruto deep in thought.

It was Chouji's turn. He seemed to be contemplating something for a moment, but then he looked up from his lap, a determined look in his eyes.

"Never have I ever tried to change myself for somebody else."

Ino, Sakura and, surprisingly, Sasuke, raised their hands and took a big gulp, not saying a word. Ino didn't need to - they had all heard her motto: "Guys like slim girls," which indicated that she wasn't as confident in her looks as she would like to be. Sakura, the one who had, at some point, taken after her, also didn't need to explain. Sasuke, though, came as a surprise, taking in the fact that the Uchiha's aloof demeanor didn't normally scream 'insecure' and nobody in the room could see why he would be. After a minute of stunned silence, he sighed and quickly muttered something about Itachi and his father comparing one to the other. The rest of the group understood and did not question further.

Next was Tenten, who cleared her throat, a somewhat devious smirk on her face.

"Never have I ever fallen for someone completely oblivious."

Hinata reluctantly raised her hand, blushing. Everyone knew who _that_ someone was except Naruto, but, seeing Hinata's blush, he decided that he shouldn't pester her. The Hyuga girl silently took a sip.

However, one more person raised their hand.

Everyone's jaws dropped.

"Sh-Shino..." Kiba stuttered out.

The normally cool Aburame got his can, drank half of it, then suddenly got flustered.

"Y-You see..." he fidgeted, which only caused more eyes to twitch, "A-Ayame-san never really n-noticed me."

"Y-You liked Ayame-nee?" Naruto managed to utter before falling dramatically to the ground and passing out.

Hell was freezing over, they were all convinced.

"A-anyway," Shino started, fixing his glasses on the bridge of his nose while regaining composure, "it's a thing of the past now. Who's next?"

Everyone decided to just shake off the thought for the moment and resume the game. Sakura shook Naruto up and he grunted before sitting up in the circle.

Then it was Sasuke's turn. He smirked, knowing exactly what to say.

"Never have I ever hugged one of my teammates."

Naruto shoot him a glare while Sakura just took two cans, blushing. The way things were going she was about to lose. She was already feeling dizzy and trying her best to keep a stupid smile off her face. She had to think of something and fast. Meanwhile, Naruto was grudgingly taking a swig and Ino had gotten a can for everyone in her team. They had been childhood friends, after all. Kiba handed Hinata one and drank himself, while Tenten casually finished her can and Lee wrote down another point for himself.

It was Shino's turn.

"Never have I ever fallen for somebody in this room."

Everything was still for a moment. Then, collectively, everybody else besides Sasuke, Chōji and Shino took a drink. The room was silent, since nobody really wanted to spill (not that some had to).

Shikamaru was next.

"Never have I ever had a pet."

At that point, Kiba, Shino (who didn't argue over the fact that bugs were pets), and Ino (a goldfish) raised their hands.

Next was Lee.

"Never have I ever skipped a day of training."

Collectively, the bigger part of the room groaned and everyone except Lee, Naruto, and Sasuke, took a drink.

After that, it was finally Sakura's turn. She had the perfect idea, or so she hoped in her already drunken mind.

"Never have I ever been publicly m'barrassed by m'self or anyone else in public."

Naruto and Sasuke both raised their hands, the latter glaring at the medic in training, who just smiled sweetly in return. Hinata silently finished her drink, while Tenten sent her a meaningful glance as she took hers. Actually, everybody except Sakura, Lee, Tenten, and Shikamaru took one. They all looked at each other in surprise.

"What? You didn't all think that all 'the big clans in Konoha were pranked in the same week jus' like that, did'ya?" Naruto slurred slightly, smirked devilishly. If the others weren't so drunk, they would've already been planning his death.

"Seriously...even the Hyūga clan? How in the living hell did'ya manage to do that?" Kiba replied, astounded.

"Oh, that? The compound is a Byakugan-free zone 'cause of privacy," Naruto said, smiling at Neji sweetly. The older shinobi just twitched rather violently, saying nothing.

"Okay, but the Uchiha?"

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who seemed to be having a moment of dawning realization and the beginning of a shock at the same time.

"Pink...pink everywhere..." was the only thing he uttered.

It was Kiba's turn and he had to think carefully. Not that he really could. The damn Chōhai had gotten to him. Eventually, he decided.

"Never've I ever been scared by a horror movie."

All of the others, except Shikamaru (who thought that horror were too troublesome and furthermore had never seen one) raised their hands and got the last cans.

"And the winner is..." Ino waited until everyone's attention was focused on her, "Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru was congratulated by everyone, who were all in various degrees of stoning. He had drunk only half a can and was, furthermore, the most sober person in the room, with Sakura the most drunk. To top it all off, it was only eight thirty, which meant that Ino was NOT going to leave them alone. Shikamaru sighed as the next game started - truth or dare.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

**_A/N_ : Originally, this chapter was with sweets, but then I decided to use the popular fan theory (ignoring that one filler episode with Tenten) that shinobi are allowed to drink however old they are. Not that Kurenai, Asuma, Gai and Kakashi would be very happy about it if their genin did XD Also, I'm pretty sure Neji and Tenten wouldn't allow Lee to drink whatever the occasion because of the Drunken Fist. I have never been drunk in my life, so the descriptions in the second half are most likely off.**

**I was going to publish this chapter last week as promised, I really was, but then life happened, and I was an emotional mess one day, busy all days before school, busy all days _after_ school. Luckily, now we've got four days vacation (dunno exactly why) so maybe I'll upload on Tuesday.**

**HOO63 out.**


	3. Truth or Dare; The Big Matchmaking Begins

Shikamaru was first, because he had won the previous game.

He sighed. Of course, the only chunin in the group knew _why_ Ino had chosen these precise games.

The thing that the whole village called 'The Nara Clan's Genius' was, truthfully, mostly simple observation skills. And Shikamaru had very good ones.

That was why he was the only one who noticed the look on Ino's face when she suggested those two games - the same look she got when she would repeat her mantra: "Guys like slim girls," over and over and _over_ again. The same look she got when she would rant on for _hours_ about how she was sure that Sasuke loved her.

Ino was playing matchmaker _._

She wasn't helping herself, but, quite obviously, her best friend - Haruno Sakura and, maybe, Tenten and Hyuga Hinata.

And, being the good observer he was, Shikamaru knew _exactly_ why.

From his point of view, if people just payed more attention to things then they would _all_ lead a happier life.

But no, they just had to make things so troublesome.

It didn't take a genius to catch the newfound curious look in Sasuke's eyes every time he looked at Sakura. The Uchiha hid his emotions well, but Shikamaru was no fool. Nor was he a romantic expert, but he had a feeling that the drama between the two teammates would be resolved with a happy ending, because even though Sakura didn't seem so trustful of the young prodigy now, she definitely still had feelings for him.

Naruto was _still_ an oblivious idiot when it came to Hinata's feelings for him. He just _wouldn't_ finally look at her and notice the way she would look at him with admiration, the way she always blushed around him, how she stuttered. However, the fact that he obviously didn't like Sakura the way he did before (there weren't any pittful attempts to flirt and ask for dates) was probably a good sign. Shikamaru signed it off to him realizing it was not worth it chasing somebody who was obviously not interested. That would normally be in conflict with his "never give up" personality, but there really was no battle to win, since it was a lost cause.

Kiba had been eyeing Ino with interest for quite some time now. He probably just found her interesting, but Shikamaru knew that that would soon change. He had once fallen for his blonde teammate, he had to admit, but that was long ago. Now, she was more like an annoying twin sister than anything.

Neji had also given Tenten a weird look when she had admitted to liking Sasuke. They were both training partners, but, by the way they were glancing at one another all throughout the game, the chunin could tell that there was something more.

Lee had had a crush on Sakura, but it wasn't serious, just a sort of slight obsession. Although he did look and act a bit weird, he was loyal and a good friend, so he would most likely find a girl too.

Chouji and Shino hadn't shown interest for anyone in particular for now, but they surely wouldn't stay single for long - after all, they were both from famous clans and were good guys when you got to know them. Ayame would probably regret missing her chance.

Then there was Shikamaru himself. He sighed again, remembering _her_ smile and mock towards him.

Relationships were just _so_ troublesome.

But, somehow, he knew, looking around the room, that they could also prove to be very uniting.

And so, he decided to help Ino.

They had all agreed that they wouldn't ask the people from their team - they all knew their teammates pretty well. So, he set eyes on his first target.

_Sasuke._

He was aware of the Uchiha's cleverness and took measures for it.

* * *

"I suppose you are all wondering why you are here," Tsunade stated. The four jounin senseis of the new team they didn't know about nodded. Even Kakashi closed his book. He had a weird feeling about this.

"Earlier today a new team was formed."

Now, that was interesting. It was rare for the Hokage to create new teams - the ANBU was one of the few, but it was more like a military division. Still, they didn't know what it had to do with them.

"This team was called the Konoha Twelve and it's up to you to guess who are the members," the Goddaime continued. The jounin looked at each other, suprised. Now that was _really_ interesting, albeit slightly worrying. Their gennin? In a team?

They knew that they had some issues with their relationships - like the fact that Team Gai didn't know the others all too well, Naruto's ability to piss off seemingly everyone (except Hinata) or cheer seemingly everyone (especially Hinata).

But it wasn't that which worried the senseis - it was their training.

It was true that almost everyone in the Twelve were prodigies, except Sakura, Lee and Tenten, and had their own clan techniques and, although they elected them for the Chūnin Exams, their teachers couldn't teach them much. They entered because the jounin all believed in teamwork - and, by the looks of it, that was what had helped them during the exam, not proper training.

They were all feeling guilty, except Gai, who had purposefully given his team time to prepare and hadn't rushed.

Kakashi knew that he couldn't do much - it was his first time leading a genin team and he didn't know _how_ to teach them - they were just too different. Naruto was a loud and hyperactive child, Sakura - a fangirl and Sasuke - an emo. The only one he could really teach because he could relate to him was Sasuke, but he couldn't just ignore the others. So, he spent months thinking about how he could make them improve, sadly with no succes. So, he tried to get them to work toghether.

Asuma didn't know anything about the Ino-Shika-Chō formation; he wasn't from either of those clans. He, like Kakashi, didn't know how to help them - Ino was a fangirl, Shikamaru had absolutely no motivation and Chōji was the obedient one, but he lacked physical ability. Although the Sarutobi clan had a history of training the Ino-Shikamaru-Chō formation, Asuma doubted that all of his ancestors had to deal with the same thing like him. Again, he didn't know what to do and tried to focus on their teamwork.

Kurenai was a rookie sensei - again, no experience. She couldn't help the three prodigies in her clan in any way. She noticed that they best improved by training each other; she had little to do with Hinata's improvement. Plus, her speciality was genjutsu and none of them had the amout chakra control needed. She emphasized on teamwork like the others.

Looking at his fellow jounin, Gai realized that he had it easy - Neji was the genius of his clan that could train by himself, Tenten gladly helped him, improving her skills and Lee was his personal appreatiance. He still felt guilty, because he couldn't teach the others anything new. He again put teamwork (and youthful exercizes) above everything else.

The jounin looked at the Hokage expectantly, waiting to be scolded at.

Instead, they were greeted by a smirk, which confused them.

"Why are you so downcast? You think that you gave them bad training, right?" she said. They all nodded and bowed their heads in shame.

"You do know why Konoha is one of the most powerful villages, right?" she asked them, but didn't wait for a reply, "It's because we rely _mainly_ on teamwork. It isn't your fault that you couldn't give most of the training they needed, but you did give them the most important one _._ Did you noticed how they changed after the invasion, after Sasuke's retrieval mission? Because I did. They are already forming bonds. At this moment, they are probably laughing their asses off at Naruto or playing some stupid game. A team is designed, so that each of the members could cover for the others' weaknesses. For example, Lee can't use chakra, right? No problem, a few strikes from Neji and the opponent won't be bothering them. Or how they both are short range fighters - depending on the technique and weapon she uses, Tenten could fight in all ranges. Now, I didn't summon you here to scold you - I summoned you so that we can make them an effective training program, before you head out for your next mission, which starts in a few hours. You know your students' weaknesses and strengths, you know where they can improve. Let's make a training program at which they can help each other," the Goddaime finished her speech, leaving them silent.

Two minutes later, they were already working on the schedule.

* * *

"Sasuke, truth or dare?" the black-haired boy wasn't that suprised - after all, he was never close with Shikamaru. He decided that the Nara clansman was just fullfilling their mission and decided to play easy. His head was buzzing lightly.

"Truth."

"Teme, did you get scared all of a sudden?" Naruto, of course.

"No, dobe, we have to get to know each other, remember?"

"If you say so."

"Okay, Sasuke," Shikamaru decided to end the argument then, because he didn't want to deal with a headache later, "How would you describe the personality of a potential girlfriend?"

Sasuke was stunned.

But he didn't show it, of course, and started thinking of how to reply.

He had, of course, considered the topic before. After all, his second goal, after killing Itachi, was resurrecting his clan. His priorities since back then hadn't really changed - he needed someone who could stand on equal ground with him - a warrior, but a lover; someone who would love him and his kids regardless of how they turned out, because he knew, of personal experience, that the worst thing for a child was to feel (and be) underappreciated by his parents. Overall, he needed someone kind, but strong.

However.

He found himself adding a few new things to the list. He needed someone who could stop him from making mistakes or giving his judgement too quickly - someone who would oppose them when they thought he was wrong, not be meek and obey everything he said without a second thought. But, at the end of the day, that someone had to love him the way he is, just like his children. He had to trust them with his life even.

Sasuke realized that there were probably quite a few people in Konoha that could match up to those criteria, even with the large number of fangirls. However, he found himself leaning to one person in particular. He then realized where his thoughts had taken him.

 _Shit_.

Had he...? Did he...?

He decided not to go there, at least for the time being. He was going to later revisit those thought and judge their autenticy.

"Someone I trust," he soon found himself replying, "both with my life and those of my children."

Shikamaru decided not to comment on the vague answer, and instead let the Uchiha take his turn.

"Shino, truth or dare?"

"Truth" Shino replied. He didn't like it when people asked him personal questions, but, for the sake of the mission, he was going to let this one pass.

"Explain how you control the insects in your body in a way that would make _even_ Naruto understand," Sasuke smirked a little bit. Now _that_ was going to be fun.

"Oi, Teme, what are you implying?"

"That you're and idiot, obviously."

The two boys had a glaring contest which ended when Sakura pushed them both in their seats.

In the next half an hour Shino explained as best as he could how he controlled the bugs and, eventually, even Naruto got it.

Then, it was the Aburame's turn.

"Naruto, truth or dare?"

"Dare!"

"I dare you to pick one girl in this room as a potential girlfriend," that was a smart move on Shino's part. Naruto was so dense about Hinata's feelings that, whatever he replied, it would be best for the Hyuga to know whether or not she stood a chance.

"Hmmm," the blond boy pondered."Well, normally I'd say Sakura-chan, but I feel her as more of a sister now than anything," he grinned at the girl, who drunkedly giggled. "Tenten's nice, but I don't really know her that well. She looks like a fun person, but not necessarily someone I'd date. Ino's not my type. So, probably Hinata. She is really sweet and brave and never gives up!" he grinned and Hinata nearly fainted from blushing. Luckily, she stood her ground.

"Ino, truth or dare?" Naruto asked.

"Dare."

"I dare you to kiss someone in this room."

"Fine," and with that, Ino walked to Kiba and kissed him on the cheek. They both blushed (Kiba's flushed cheeks looked strange because of his red marks) and Ino sat down. Truthfully, she had taken interest in the Inuzuka, who had caught her attention with his feralness. And she had caught his with her wit. All in all, neither would complain about the dare.

"Sakura, truth or dare?" the blond girl asked.

"Truth."

"Who would you rather kiss - Sasuke or Chouji?"

The pinkette stared at her best friend, suddenly very much sober. How was she supposed to answer that question without hurting anybody, really? She still liked Sasuke and Ino knew that, but on the other hand, she didn't trust him so much anymore. Ever since that night two weeks ago she had been dangling between being broken and determined.

She thought of something. Maybe it would work.

"If it's on the cheek, I wouldn't mind kissing either of them."

"No can do. Just choose already!" Ino ushered.

Sasuke looked at Sakura and saw her frown, no, pout. He had guessed that she would choose him, because she would think that it wouldn't mean anything.

But _why_ did she hesitate? Did she really not trust him that much?

And why, even after knowing the logical answer, the Uchiha was still unsure whether or not she would actually choose him.

Then, she giggled drunkedly yet again.

"Fine, fine. Ummm,...maybe...Chōji. No 'ffense, Sasuke," she smiled awkwardly.

Suddenly, the room became awfully still. Sakura looked around and chuckled. "What? Chōji's a real nice guy, even though he chubby. Yeah, real nice," she winked at the startled brunette.

Everyone took a deep breath. Well, that explained everything. She was stone drunk.

Sakura scanned the room, searching for a victim.

"Neji, truth or dare?"

"Truth," the Hyuga replied non-chalantly.

"Have you ever used your Byakugan for...I dunno...s'mthin' not decent?"

If Neji wasn't trained, he would've blushed like a schoolgirl right there and then.

But he was, so he replied indifferently as usual.

"No, I haven't."

"You sure? Because I saw you eyeing Tenten-chan a few minutes ago with a funny expression on your face."

_Damn._

The Haruno was more observant than Neji would have liked at that moment. Said girl was currently rolling on the floor laughing. Tenten blushed furiously and Neji almost followed, but managed to stay calm.

"Yes, I'm sure. That wasn't what you think it was."

"Then wha' was it?" she slurred after finally taking a breath.

Neji couldn't just tell her that he liked Tenten and Sakura knew that. She wasn't trying to get him to admit his feelings, just to confirm her theory about them. And she did.

Tenten didn't know what to think. _Could Neji - No, of course not_. They were just teammates, after all, and he looked as uninterested in her as one could get.

"Was just checking to see if she's okay. She drank a lot, just like you did. I think it's my turn," Neji turned to his cousin, "Hinata-sama, truth or dare?"

"T-truth."

"What would you do if this was your last day?"

"I'd tell everyone that I'm glad that I got to meet all of you," she answered honestly, making everyone drunk awww. "A-and I'd confess to the b-boy I like," she managed to utter, then blushed furiously. Naruto noticed that and thought what a lucky person her crush was - Hinata was sweet and caring, but strong at times when she had to be. However, she seemed very gentle most of the time, which made her seem vulnerable, like glass.

Unconsciously, Naruto clenched his fists. _That bastard better make her happy or else._

Sakura and Shikaamaru both saw Naruto's hands and thought that _maybe, just maybe_ there was hope.

Hinata chose to ask Tenten.

"Tenten-san, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I d-dare you t-to do a trick with some w-weaponry."

"Okay," Tenten said, pulling some kunai and a plate-sized plastic ring. She started joggling with the kunai and everytime she threw one in the air, it would pass through the ring twice. She did it in different variants - joggling with one arm, with a finger, even with her nose (Ino gagged at that moment, but, nevertheless, was impressed) and she did it so fast that the ring didn't even fall to the ground. When she finished, everyone applauded her as she took her place once again, bowing happily.

"Chouji, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"If you had to choose one dish to eat everyday for a week straight, what would it be?"

Chouji explained in ten minutes (and in a way that almost made Shikamaru feel shame) the good and bad qualities of some of his favourite meals. Eventually, he chose pork barbecue with vegetables as a side.

"Kiba, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to give Akamaru to someone else for the rest of the night."

Kiba widened his eyes, "What? Why?"

"Just do it," Chouji replied as he was munching on another crisp.

Kiba growled but, nevertheless, set Akamaru down from his lap and told his best friend to choose where to sit. After scanning the room, the dog went to a suprised Ino, who took him in her lap.

Apparently, even the dog knew that something was up between the two.

The game continued.

"Lee, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" the taijutsu user answered enthusiastically.

"I dare you to do 500 sit-ups and if you don't succeed, I'll give you something else to do."

"Fine with me!" Lee started the sit-ups right away. Although he hadn't trained for some time due to the surgery, he was used to doing about 3000 sit-ups. That was why he was really suprised when he only managed to do 499. As he looked at Kiba expectantly, he made a mental note to resume training with Gay-sensei as soon as possible.

"I dare you to kiss Sakura's hand," the boy with the grey jacket (which he, for some reason, hadn't take off) said. Sakura and Lee were suprised and were both blushing. Only Shikamaru, Naruto and Ino caught sight of Sasuke's well hidden scowl, but that was just because they were looking for it. Apparantely, a drunken Uchiha was an Uchiha that showed cracks in the ever-present facade.

Lee looked at Sakura and asked, "Sakura-san, is there a problem if I do this?"

"'Course not, Lee (hic) san. 'S just a dare, after all."

Lee nodded, understanding, leaned in and slightly kissed her hand. After that, they were both blushing furiously.

It was Lee's turn.

"Shikamaru-san, truth or dare?"

"Truth. A dare is too troublesome."

"Do you think this mission has been successful so far?"

Shikamaru was suprised by the question, but answered, "Yes, I think so. We did get to know each other a bit better. Now, anyone want to go to bed?"

They all shook their heads to show that they didn't, they all had a lot of energy after the previous game, especially the members of Team Seven who, to Sasuke's biggest regret, had drank the most. If he was feeling dizzy, then Sakura looked ready to pass out, and Naruto seemed more annoying than usual. Shikamaru usually had more energy than he liked to show, so he agreed to stay awake for a little while longer. He and Sakura decided to play a game of Shoji, while Hinata and Lee watched them. Kiba and Ino were sitting in a corner, talking quietly to each-other while the girl was stroking Akamaru, who was still in her lap. They were talking about animals in general and Kiba announced that he had always found goldfish _very_ interesting. Ino blushed at that, but only barely visible, of course. After all, she was Yamanaka Ino - boys should blush because of her and dream of her, _not_ the other way around (Sasuke being the exception, but that was beside the point) - she had dignity.

Although, she was starting to question if it was worth keeping it and if Kiba would agree to keep it.

Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Shino, Tenten and Chouji were playing poker. Sasuke and Neji both had good game insight even without using their Bloodline Limits, while Shino and Tenten were both skilled players and Naruto and Chouji were just _really_ lucky. With everybody being nearly in the same faze of soberness, the odds where more or less equal. They weren't betting anything else aside from their dignity (in the form of paper notes), which the Hyuga and the Uchiha took pretty seriously. They ended with 5 victories for Naruto (who had some experience besides luck), Tenten and Sasuke, 4 for Neji and Shino and 3 for Chouji. The drinks were really getting to them and they decided to call it a night. Kiba and Ino saw them stand up from the table where they had been playing and all of them want to the one where Sakura and Shikamaru were still playing Shoji. Sakura was trying hard not to leave Shikamaru with no means of escape, because she knew that if she pushed him to thinking of a strategy, it was game over for her. She actually wasn't as drunk as she pretended to be,though she was very good at hiding it, Shikamaru had to give her that. She was very dizzy, obviously, but not quite the fool she made herself look. Eventually, she did corner him, he thought of a strategy and won. They stood up and started cleaning the table.

"Thank you for playing with me," the pinkette bowed her head down slightly, in order to show respect. To her suprise, he did the same.

"Thank you for playing as well. Not many people have played with me and you proved yourself a worthy opponent," he smiled lazily at her and she tiredly returned it. She had played as best as she could and she did win _something_ in the end - respect.

Something she had been wanting in a very long time.

When he saw Sakura and Shikamaru smile at each other and showing respect, Sasuke was reminded of the earlier game. His chest tightened, but not of jealousy. He was simply envious of the way the two treated each other - with respect. Something which he had most likely lost after what happened two weeks ago. Too bad he started caring about her respect towards him and started respecting her himself _much_ too late. He wanted the old days back - the days in which he would protect her all the time, not like now, when she could protect herself and, more importantly, risk _her_ life for _his._

Like she had in 'The Forest of Death'.

Such thoughts continued to pester him even after they called "lights out" and the others were long asleep. He even dreamt about such things after he had finally fallen asleep.

Or at least he dreamt about them until he heard the sound of shattering glass and a scream coming from the next room.

* * *

**A/N: You know what the worst update schedule is? Not having any**. **Also, apologies for drunk!Sakura**.


	4. The New Sakura

Sasuke and the others woke up and immediately started running quitely and quickly, like real ninja, to the west wing, where the girls were and from where the scream was heard.

While running, Neji activated his Byakugan and saw Sakura being held as captive with a hand around her neck from a person with a black costume and mask. There were two other men with him, who were pointing at the other girls with their weapons, two long katanas . Ino was the one who had screamed. Neji reported this to the other boys and didn't miss their clenched fists. By the time they reached the door, Sasuke had already activated his Sharingan and was ready to burst through it. Eventually, they managed to calm themselves down, realizing that they wouldn't help the girls like that.

Speaking of who.

Ino, Hinata and Tenten were staring, scared, at Sakura and the invaders. They started thinking and calmed themselves down, but didn't show it - they didn't want to look suspicious.

Sakura, however, had already devised a plan.

She, like the other girls, was fully aware that the boys had already arrived. There was a paper panel that was see-through on the outside, so they were watching and waiting for an opportunity to attack.

After a moment of silence, the one who was holding Sakura started talking.

"Which one of you lives here? Hand me everything precious you have or this girl," he locked his arm around Sakura tighter, "will die."

No one answered.

"Fine then, I guess you don't ca-"

"No, wait! I live here!" Sakura shouted, suprising everyone. However, the girls didn't show it and the guys were waiting to see what she was going to do.

She started blinking rapidly, as if trying to hold back tears.

"Please, I'll show you were the jewelry and money is, just leave my friends alone! We are only civilians, my parents just have a good business, please, let us go!"

"Business, you say? So, they may want to pay a small ransom for their daughter?" the one holding the pinkette smirked and walked closer to his subordinates, "Maybe we should take her with us instead, eh? Then, they would pay _much_ more than what they have here."

The three men laughed and the two swordsmen turned around.

That was a mistake.

Sakura quickly proceeded with her plan, pumping chakra in her foot and kicking the man who held her hard from behind.

Tsunade had told her how to do that just a few days ago, but Sakura was a fast learner and had good chakra control, so she quickly got the hang of it. Her punches and kicks weren't as hard as her teacher's but she, like her, had great strenght to begin with.

That's why the man held his leg and for that was quickly knocked out with a punch.

The boys were just about to come out from their hiding place, but Shikamaru stopped them. Before, when Sakura was pretending to hold back tears, she was actually doing a morse code* by blinking. The message was: _I have a plan_. If the plan involved them, she would have told them.

So, he decided to leave her to it. The other boys followed his lead and watched.

Not that there was much left to watch.

When Sakura had punched the one who had held her captive, the other two men had turned around and then to the others girls to threaten, but they had disappeared. They were actually hiding behind another paper panel on the other side of the room since the men had first started talking about taking Sakura with them, leaving some Bunshin behind. They were waiting for an opening.

But it never came.

The two intruders were left stupified for a moment, which gave Sakura enough time to press two pressure points on both of their necks, resulting in them falling unconscious like their partner. Although she had just started training with people, Sakura had done a lot of reading for the past days and knew how to knock out her enemies effectively and for a long enough period of time.

After the men fell, everyone came out of their hiding places and looked at Sakura with new eyes. She really _was_ no longer a Sasuke fangirl and all brains but no skill, no - now, she was a kunoichi, able to take care of herself and others, too.

She blushed under their gazes.

They all congratulated her, called the police (after the Uchiha massacre the Hokage had employed some shun in and jounin to work there) and tied the three men to a pillar. It turned out that they didn't have to - the police came before the intruders woke up. The authorities suggested that the young shinobi all slept in the east wing and locked all the doors that surrounded the room, in which the window had been broken. They were all tired and didn't protest, they just answered the officers' questions, wished them a 'Good Night' and the girls moved their stuff to the east wing. Then they all waited for Sasuke to lock the doors before collapsing back to sleep.

* * *

The next morning Sasuke was the first to wake up.

It was quite suprising, considering that he spent the first half of the night dreaming and thinking about the new Sakura, and the other half...

...doing the same thing.

Not that he was the only one, of course. The others had too thought about Sakura's change and were glad about it. One-less Sasuke fangirl was always a good reason to celebrate and even Ino didn't seem interested in the Uchiha anymore (something for which Kiba was very glad. He just hoped that he hadn't made too much of a fool himself last night.).

Sasuke got up and decided to be a good host and prepare breakfast. As he was walking to the door, he saw Sakura stirr. She sat up in her sleeping bag and rubbed her eyes. She stood up.

"Oh, good morning, Sasuke," she said sleepily and yawned.

"Hn."

"I see you're awake. Let's get dressed and make breakfast, eh?" they picked up their clothes; they had slept in pajamas.

Without another word Sasuke went to a bathroom down the hall and gestured for Sakura to go to another one. They came out about ten minutes later, showered and fully dressed, and headed towards the kitchen.

"What shall we prepare?" the girl asked.

"Hn. I don't know," the boy replied.

They eventually started making omelettes. Sasuke put some tomatoes with his. After they were done they started cleaning the counter, which was covered with eggshells. Sasuke then looked at Sakura and saw that she had some in her hair. He raised an eyebrow at her. The pinkette noticed that and touched her hair, only to find small pieces of eggshell. She caught Sasuke smirking and got pissed off (and a little bit embarrassed), so she picked up some left-over tomato slices and dumped them in his hair. Sakura smiled sweetly upon seeing the scowl on his face.

"Oh, _Sasuke-kun_ , I know how much you love tomatoes and decided that you might want some as an accessorie," she mocked him in her fangirl voice, once reserved specially for him. That was the moment when the others decided to come in and, seeing the Uchiha with tomatoes in his hair and the ex-fangirl laughing at him was enough to wake them up fully and they started laughing along.

Sasuke's scowl only deepened and he threw some eggs at her. Sakura side-stepped and the eggs ended up on the front of Naruto's T-shirt (his jacket was open). He frowned and threw some at him in return, but the prodigy dodged and Ino got some in her hair.

And so the biggest food fight that Konoha had ever hosted began.

They hid, turned a couple of bowls (luckily, they were plastic), Sasuke even considered activating his Sharingan for a moment, but he was actually having fun and didn't want it to end. They ended up back to back, separated by the counter. They divided in two teams, all except Shino (who said that his bugs didn't like it; the others weren't sure what to make of his open answer yet) and Shikamaru (who said it was too troublesome, but who knew for a fact that the most enjoyabale position in those kinds of events was as a spectator). The teams were Sasuke, Ino, Neji, Lee and Hinata and Sakura, Naruto, Kiba, Choji and Tenten. They were all breathing heavily, they had been going on like that for about ten minutes. The whole kitchen was a mess, their clothes were dirty, but luckily the omelettes were in the dinning room, already served with napkins, forks and everything.

All of the 'fighters' had a handful of eggs and tomatoes. They decided on one final attack and jumped at the same time. They both threw the last of their 'amo' at each other and fell, again separated by the counter. Sakura started laughing and even Sasuke's lips turned up. However, when he stood, his face was in his usual stone facade.

"Annoying," he huffed at her. That only made her laugh even harder and everyone joined (except Shino and Sasuke, but they both smiled). The Aburame and Shikamaru even agreed to do some of the cleaning. The first ones that came out of the shower and the ones that had to wait (they may have been in a mansion, but there weren't one thousand bathrooms) helped and by the end they had all cleaned themselves and the mess was taken care of. Then they sat in the dining room and had a nice breakfast, although the omelettes were cool. They talked for a bit and decided to report that they all thought the mission to be a success. On the way to the Hokage Mansion the citizens of Konoha stared at them. Some of them were the Hokage's assistances' children - with admiration, the grown-ups - assessingly, the other girls and boys - some with envy, some nonchalantly and some were already on the way to becoming fangirls/fanboys. Kiba and Naruto just waved and smiled. The later nudged the other and told him that his fangirls were more in comparison. Shino caught that and remarked that Sasuke's fangirls remained the biggest number. Naruto huffed and started a glaring contest with the Uchiha. It went on for a while, but the blond boy grinned and the black-haired turned his head around, so that no one could see the slightly upturned corners of his mouth. He had an image, after all.

Naruto then started teasing Kiba and Ino, calling them 'love birds' and asking when they will make their relationship official. Ino hit him and told him that maybe, just _maybe_ if he wasn't such an idiot he would've been able to get a girlfriend. Almost everyone laughed at that statement (Neji, Shino and Sasuke just smirked, while Hinata blushed), even Naruto stopped fake-frowning and grinned again, putting his hands behind his neck like usual.

They arrived at the Hokage office and Shizune greeted them. Tsunade lifted her head from the paperwork on her desk

"Hello, everyone. So, how did it go?"

"We are here to report that the mission was a success," Shikamaru stated. They had all agreed earlier that Shikamaru should be the leader of the team (even Naruto didn't complain), being a chunin andthe most intelligent. He was the most qualified one.

"That's good," Tsunade replied, setting the papers down, "We heard of the accident. What happened?"

"Well, the police already questioned us..." the lazy shinobi replied.

"Yes, but I want to hear it from you, I haven't had enough time to read the report," the Hokage demanded.

"Basically, Sakura beat up their asses!"

"Naruto, I'm having a headache and your screaming doesn't help. Now, tell me the whole story - who is them and what did they do?"

The genin and chunin explained how they woke up from the sound of glass shattering, how Sakura was taken hostage, how she lied that she owned the house, the following short battle and ended with the police arriving.

"Well done, Sakura," Tsunade smiled proudly at her appreantice, who smiled back, "Well, in this case, do you think you can handle missions together from now on?"

"Yes, we can," Shikamaru replied.

"In this case, I have something for-" the Hokage was interrupted by a chunin bursting through the door.

"Tsunade-sama, the bandits who attacked the Uchiha mansion last night have escaped!"

* * *

* Morse code is a method of transmitting text information as a series of on-off tones, lights or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment (Wikipedia). In this chapter Sakura is doing it by blinking, meaning that we have longer and shorter blinks for different characters. If she is doing it fast there may be some mistakes in deciphering it, but Shikamaru is a good observer as mentioned in the previous chapter.

* * *

Omake: Kiba and Ino's talk

Kiba and Ino sat in one of the corners of the room in the Uchiha Mansion. The boy originally wanted to play poker with the others - he could easily recognize when the lie, since people become nervous and it affects their smell. However, the Yamanaka had interested him and he wanted to learn more about her.

Even if it was through her pet.

He never knew that goldfishes could prove to be so interesting - for example, they only hear what they want to. If you talk to them and you say food they'll listen, but if it's about something else, they won't.

Ino talked about her pet with a glint in the eye - she was an animal lover, alright. And Akamaru seemed to like her - he had been sitting in her lap peacefully ever since the Truth or Dare game. If it where someone else, besides Hinata and Shino, the dog would've tried to escape.

They talked and Kiba found other interesting things about her. He didn't know what possessed him to say that he thought that goldfishes were awesome. He hoped that it was a good thing, if the fact that Ino had a glint in the eye when she spoke to him for the rest of the night could be counted as one.

* * *

A/N: Okay, this chapter had to be posted two days ago, but I couldn't, so the next update will be on Sunday. Also, this is my first attempt at an Omake - what do you think?

I suppose there isn't anyone that hasn't got a clue what the pairings are, but I'll state them: SasuSaku, NaruHina, NejiTen, KibaIno and the rest will be revealed later. I didn't write them in the summary because:

1\. Some people read stories because of pairings, not because of the plot. This isn't right and by not giving them away in the summary I could lose a few of those "readers". Pairings are important in a story, but it isn't fair for you to read it only because of them or not read it because of them if you are interested in the plot.

2\. I have been giving hints since the first chapter. The only reason I am writting them here is because I want to be clear about them.

I hope that the whole SasuSaku emphasize that comes with the Team Seven one doesn't bother you much - it will be over in a few chapters. I'm making it so now, because it's part of their character development.

Anyway, another cliffhanger. What do you think? Who were the masked men? Until next time ;).


	5. Genin vs Sanin; Is it a good idea?

The whole room stood still at those words.

"What do you mean? How?" Tsunade asked.

"It seems that they have used some kind of poison on the bars of their cells and left overnight without anyone noticing. We still don't know how they have managed to hide the poison from the shinobi who checked them, nor how the ones on guard have been poisoned too. A tracking team caught their trail about thirty minutes ago and headed towards them. They promised to send us a report in about an hour. I came here as soon as I could."

"I don't understand! Baa-chan, what's going on?"

"Hokage-sama, what should we do?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Let me think it all over," Tsunade started rubbing her temples, silencing the room. After about a minute, she let her hands fall at her sides, eyes resolved, voice steady.

"First, we should assume that the robbery wasn't their real purpose. If they were skilled enough to sneak poison without the guards noticing and able to knock them out when they didn't even show that much strength last night, then their attack on the Uchiha Mansion must have had another meaning. Plus, they managed to take down two jōnin, and taking all of the already mentioned happenings, I doubt it was a stroke of luck either."

"Reconnaissance, then? They might have just been sent here to gather information on us," the Nara suggested.

"But they only held Sakura hostage, even when she wasn't the one sleeping closest to an exit," Ino reminded. "And she was also the only one they witnessed fight. If they needed any more information, they would've stayed after they had escaped, not leave the village. Which means..."

"Which means that their target was me," the pinkette finished. Everyone looked at her. She was staring at the door.

Ever since the start of Team Seven, Sakura had always been useless. She had watched Naruto and Sasuke's backs all the time - they were the ones to fight, the ones to protect her. And she didn't give it too much thought until that time when the Uchiha had called her a lower-level ninja than Naruto.

But it had changed during the Second exam.

The cut of her hair had been _her_ symbol of maturing, of finally being able to do _something._ Ever since she had cut it, she had tried to be useful to the team. True, Naruto and Sasuke still had done most of the fighting, but she had tried, like that time they had had to help Morino Idate. She had tried to fight. She had provided first aid to her teammates when they were wounded, she had done everything she could. She had noticed that she had great strength, her talent for genjutsu, the way she could tend wounds pretty well. She had thought that maybe, just _maybe_ she had started being useful, that she had became stronger.

_But it still wasn't enough._

When Sasuke had left, she hadn't, she _couldn't,_ do anything to stop him. She had just stood there, frozen, being pathetic and weak and _annoying,_ all the things she had convinced herself she had left behind.

The morning after the first day without him, she had decided that she would become strong, no matter what, and hope and pray that when Naruto brought Sasuke back, she would be stronger. She would be able to make him stay.

She had started working hard on becoming a medic-nin and had learned a lot for two weeks. She liked it, she liked her teacher, she liked the things she learned, everything.

And now, those men were _mocking_ her, letting her defeat them, they were mocking her hard work.

And hell was she angry.

Sakura clenched her fists and looked up to the others, who were giving her odd glances. Even Neji and Sasuke's features had softened a bit. When they saw her angry expression, they were startled.

But what she said next surprised them even more.

"Then let's go after them."

"Sakura, you can't just-"

"Shishou, last night the jōnin assured us that they would look after these men. However, they said that they were the last of their rank, that all the other jōnin were on missions.

Now, these men require medical attention and can't fight. The rest of them and most of the chūnin are on missions. The tracking team is just that - a tracking team, they don't have that much experience in fighting. We are the only ones left. Plus, we are twelve and they are two. Even if they are stronger than us, we could beat them with good teamwork," Sakura stated, rendering everyone silent, this time not just with the glint in her eyes that said how badly she wanted to chase after the ones who had humiliated her, but also by her calm reasoning. Tsunade started thinking. What Sakura said was true - they were the only ones left.

She sighed and made a decision - one she hoped they would understand.

"Fine. Then, I will assign a mission - Shino, Shikamaru, Neji, and Jiraiya will go after these men. You are only to follow them, not engage in any way. I will tell Jiraiya, who will be the team leader, about the mission. I simply cannot let all of you go - we know nothing about their motives, who they work with, nothing. A four man squad is sent out - Jiraiya is a Sannin with experience in Intel gathering, Shikamaru is a chūnin and is the most logical choice as such, Shino, like the rest of Team Eight, specializes in tracking, but is also useful for information gathering and combat, should it be needed. Neji is very good at combat and tracking. I will not send anyone from Team Seven, because your emotions may start guiding your desicions. This is my only concern - for both you, and the rest, I do not doubt your capabilities as shinobi, I merely try sending who I think is best for the mission, understood?"

Team Seven looked ready to protest, but thought better (at least Sakura and Sasuke did; they had to 'restrain' Naruto from saying anything). The others looked around nervously, and eventually muttered a "Hai."

"And you," the Hokage turned towards the one who had brought the news, "watch out for the report and bring it immediately to me."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," was the reply and the chūnin left, the twelve other shinobi at his toes.

Tsunade sighed and looked at Shizune, "Did I do the right thing?"

"There was nothing better you could have done."

"Yes," Tsunade paused, "you're right." The Goddaime reached out for a bottle of sake in one of the cupboards in her desk.

Shizune didn't stop her.

The Konoha 12 met after twenty minutes as agreed. The ones that were assigned the mission had already prepared, and the others were there to see them off. Normally, giving mission details to shinobi not part of said mission was against the protocol, but Tsunade chose not to comment on it. If they knew the details, at least they might calm down a bit, she reasoned.

"Here is the report of the tracking nins," the Goddaime handed Shikamaru a scroll and explained, "The two men have headed to the Country of Rise Field, specifically towards a forest there. We don't know why," Tsunade noticed Sasuke frowning. "What is it, Uchiha?"

"The Country of Rice Field is where Orochimaru's hideout is," the prodigy replied.

For a moment, everyone froze.

"What? Are you sure?" Kiba asked.

"That's where the Sound Four were taking me in order to meet him. They said his base was in a small clearing in some mountain woods there."

"The important question is why Orochimaru would send his men to find more about Sakura, when he was after Sasuke," Neji reminded.

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other and nodded.

"It is true that Orochimaru is after me, he agreed to give me power," Sasuke started slowly.

"But his real aim was to take over Sasuke's body to use it as a container. He has an immortality jutsu of some sort, but he needs a new body every few years," Naruto continued.

"We don't know whether or not he has already used this technique and gotten a new body. The Sound Four were in a hurry to get me there," Sasuke took up the conversation again.

"So, even if he has taken a new body, it still doesn't make sense; what might he want with Sakura?" Ino asked.

"Because, in order to take Sasuke's body, he would now have to fight us," Shikamaru replied, "He needs a general idea of our abilities, especially of Naruto and Sakura's, who are closest to him."

"I already fought him at the Chunin Exam," Naruto remembered, "which leaves Sakura. But he probably knows that we would chase those men, so why did he make them go back to him?"

"Because it's a trap," this time it was Tenten. Silence fell over the room for a while.

"So what?" Sakura was still full of suprises, "Even if it is a trap, this is probably the best lead we'd ever get on him. We can't wait for the jōnin to finish their missions; we have to act, and fast, even if it's only a few of us. We, the rest, could look up Rice Field Country and see what we can find. If we wait for him to strike again...I don't even want to think about the consequences this time. Something has to be done now."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," a new voice piped in. Everybody turned towards the door.

"Greetings, young genin. I am Jiraiya, the Great Toad Sage of the Sannin, and your team leader."

Their trip to the Rice Field Country was quiet.

Too quiet.

The air was heavy. The four shinobi had been trailing their targets for a while now, and they were all very tense. Jiraiya had said at the start of the mission that they would keep a distance of at least thirty meters so as to not be sensed, but still be able to track the missing-nin. The Sannin had not lead a team in quite a while, but reasoned that the boys were sensible and would listen to him (unlike a certain godson of his).

Neji was, admittedly, scared, but tried to reason with himself. They were four - two genin, a chūnin, and even another Sannin. He knew he could and would trust all of them. Like Tsunade had said, they were all perfectly suited for this mission.

But then again, they were facing a _Sannin._

The most ruthless one at that.

Shikamaru already thought that whole situation way too troublesome, but he understood Sakura's reason behind it. In any case, she was right - they were the only available team. The rest were on missions.

Still, he had a nudging feeling inside of his chest, which meant that something was going to go wrong.

Too late to be sorry, anyway.

He sighed.

Shino was trying to make his bugs scout the area in front of them, so that if any of the missing-nin tried to suprise them, he would know before they even tried. Plus, it helped keep his mind off of things, because, although he knew why they were doing what they were doing, he wasn't exactly enthralled with it.

They reached the border with the Rice Field Country by sunset.

Their targets had decided to stop and rest for the night, and so the four of them had to, too. It wasn't like they minded taking a break, and it gave Jiraiya and opportunity to place a tracking seal on the ones they were following, which would, in turn, make their journey easier tomorrow. However, just taking into consideration what they were about to do the very next day was proving to be more taxing on the mind than anticipated.

And so, while wondering what the rest of their comrades were doing in Konoha, the four shinobi slowly fell asleep.

* * *

**Omake:** **Youthful Love**

After about two hours, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai and Tsunade were finally finished with the training program for their students. It hadn't been a too difficult task - they all knew their students fairly well and thus the discussion went smoothly.

Then, Kakashi decided to play matchmaker. Jiraiya's novels had really gotten to him - and not just the porn part, but the romantic one as well.

And you didn't have to be blind to notice Asuma and Kurenai's feelings for each other.

He pulled Gai aside and told him about his plan. His rival agreed immediately to help, shouting about how youthful love was and how it can help them to further preserve their own youth. Kakashi sweat-dropped but said nothing.

The Copi-nin casually walked to Asuma and Kurenai after they exited Tsunade's office and asked, "Say, have you guys ever thought of getting into a relationship?"

They looked at him, astounded, and then Gai shouted:

"Ah, yes, how youthful love is! It could increase everyone's youthfulness drastically! You, Yuhi Kurenai, are one youthful flower and you, Sarutobi Asuma, are one mighty oak! May the Flames of Youth burn brightly within you!"

Both senseis looked disturbed and reddened.

"There is nothing between us," Asuma protested.

"What he said," Kurenai agreed, her face color almost matching the one of her eyes, "We are just good friends."

"Really good friends at that," Kakashi smiled smugly under his mask.

"What are you implying, Kakashi?" the sensei of Team Ten asked, clearly frustrated.

"Absolutely nothing, Asuma. I just asked you if any of you had ever thought of getting into a relationship, I didn't say it had to be with each other. Then again, if that is your automatically assumption, I don't see why you cannot be with each other," Kakashi said and **Shunshin-ed** away with Gai following his lead.

"So..." Asuma started after the awkward silence had dragged on for too long.

"So..." Kurenai continued.

"Just ask her out already! I've already made a bet with Kakashi that she wouldn't agree, so you should be fine," Tsunade shouted from her office. She was watching from her Hokage crystal ball, courtesy of the Sandaime, and they were just bellow her office' window.

Asuma reddened even more and blurted, "Well...Kurenai, will you go out with me?"

"Yes, I will," she replied and both left to prepare for their mission, still as red.

"Yosh, Kakashi! You sure know how to make the Flames of Youth burn brightly! Now, all we have to do is find you a youthful flower!" Gai stated, coming from behind the tree he was hiding. Kakashi stepped from the other one and said nothing - the thought of Gai playing matchmaker for him was way too terrifying.

"You could ask Anko, I _bet_ she would have everything against it," the Goddaime again yelled from her window.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," the Copy-nin muttered and went back to his apartment to prepare for his mission.

* * *

**A/N: Another revised chapter. Oh, winter holidays, how I love you.**


	6. In the Snake's Lair

The next morning they all woke up early - none of them had really gotten any sleep - and crossed the border by dawn. The Sannin, chūnin and genin traveled the whole morning, only stopping for breakfast at a tea house. At that point in time, they weren't worried about where the people they were trailing were - they had gotten ahead, and Jiraiya's tracking seal seemed to be working fine. So, they took their sweet time discussing strategy while keeping a leisurely pace. Just as they were deciding the final parts a boy suddenly jumped on the road. Two figures attacked him and the Leaf shinobi rushed to his aid. Seeing the bigger group, the two assaulters ran away in the forest. The boy had a deep gash on the arm; he was wearing a light purple-gray vest, dark green shorts, beige sandals, a wristband on each hand and a dark blue mask, showing only his brown eyes and a shock of ginger hair. After Shino did what he could with the healing balm Hinata had sent him and the bandages he had on himself, the person was revealed as a girl named Sasame.

"Thank you for saving me," she said and took off her mask. She didn't look so relieved for someone who bad just been saved from potential mortal danger, and the rest noted it as such.

"Why were they after you?" Neji asked her.

"Who are you?" Sasame asked instead, "Are you shinobi?"

"Yes, we are," Jiraya confirmed, "What about you?"

Sasame sighed, rubbing the back of her head. "Well...it's a long story, but I can tell you while we walk."

They started on the road again and listened to her tale - about her clan, Orochimaru recruiting her cousin, her quest to save him. Even though the group of shinobi pretty much knew where they were headed, they let her lead the way. Meanwhile, a discussion was held between the team from Konoha whether or not to help her. Jiraiya was worried about a confrontation with Orochimaru, but eventually decided to allow his team to help, especially after the "Naruto will never forgive you" card was drawn. After some traveling, they reached a mountain. Sasame offered them food with a sleeping drug in it. Later, they confronted her and the 'bandits', defeated them and set out again, having shown her she could trust them.

No one would admit it, but everyone became nervous as they neared Orochimaru's lair, even Jiraya. Eventually, they reached the cave hidden among the trees.

Neji checked the entrance for traps and people, but there were none. They told Sasame to go back to her clan and she turned around, bidding them goodbye. Then the rest walked down a corridor, which divided into three more. They were four, so they decided that Jiraiya would go alone, Shikamaru and Shino - together, leaving Neji also alone. They wished luck to each other before taking their separate corridors, knowing they might as well need it in a place as dark as this.

* * *

To be honest, the ones from the Twelve that were back in Konoha were all at least a bit worried about their comrades. Everything that had happened in the last few months made the genin feel as if they'd had enough for the year. The Chūnin Exams and Sound Invasion, the Third dying, Tsunade taking his place, Sasuke leaving, Sasuke's retrieval, the formation of the new team, the attack, and now the mission.

It wasn't even May yet.

The genin were, in all honesty, still trying to wrap their heads around everything that had happened, because it still felt too fast, even if it had been weeks, or months. The recent developments and lack of missions (because Team Seven needed to be monitored at all time, otherwise Kami knew what they would do) only left more spare time to ponder on everything.

Choji, for his part, was strongly affected by it all. Due to his kind heart and fondness of the old man, the Third's death had been a great shock. Sometimes (though he hadn't admitted that to anyone), he still had nightmares about the man he had felt was his own grandfather. As for the Twelve, he was actually quite excited about how it would all turn out. Really, the only people he had perceived as his friends so far had been Shikamaru (his best friend) and Ino (because hell, even she had her moments). Kiba and Naruto had once been childhood playmates, but nothing more. And so, he was glad, because his team had expanded into a family full of cousins with colorful personalities, and it made life in general more interesting.

Ino, had she known what Chōji was thinking, would have agreed with him. It was true that she felt as if Chōji and Shikamaru were her only friends, even though her relationship with Sakura had gotten a lot better. The last few months had helped her recognize the fact that there was a different side to everyone, and it made her more open and acceptable of other people she couldn't seem to stand before (namely Naruto). She too felt as if the newly formed team would result in something bigger and better.

* * *

Shikamaru quickly analyzed their situation. Not that there was much to analyze - he and Shino were in the middle of a corridor and an unnaturally large snake was coming towards them. He didn't like their predicament, not one bit.

"Tch," he grumbled, then turned to his teammate, "You think your insects can devour that much chakra?"

Shino glanced at the approaching snake quickly. "It's a Summon, if I am correct. If we stall for long enough, they should be able to."

"Not like we have a lot of choices," Shikamaru sighed briefly, hands already going through the familiar signs of his binding technique. "Let's do it, then," he added just as he hit the final seal.

* * *

Tenten, for her part, was strongly reminded of her mother, whom she had lost a long time ago. Her mother had had a knack for crafting (and playing) musical instruments just like her father had for weapons. From her Tenten had inherited her musical talent - something that no one, besides her father, knew about. Since her mother's death she had had to start helping her father in his shop and her childhood had been cut in half. On the other hand, it was one of the things that had inspired her to become a ninja - they often came across the shop to buy weapons and she had often admired them from afar, - so it had led her to meet the rest of Team Gai, as well as everyone else from the Konoha Twelve, something which she was really thankful for; she was slowly getting to know them and had a feeling that their camaderie was going to last.

Lee had learned to live in solitude a long time ago. He was an orphan, the one everyone in the Academy made fun of because of his underdeveloped chakra coils, and to say that Team Gai was the shining light in his life would not be an overexaggeration. He had been teamed up with a genius, and a prodigy of her own (although she hadn't decided to take up her family's craft seriously until later). He himself hadn't stood out with anything at the time - he wasn't even sure how he had passed that Academy test in the first place. Still, he was glad he had, for it had lead him to meet such amazing people (Sakura-chan was among the most notable, of course), of whom he already thought as excellent comrades. It reminded him of the early days of Team Gai.

Although their relationship had been rocky at best in the beginning, they had learned to co-operate, at the very least. But even that co-operation seemed to be enough, given the fact that they were the only ones from their generation of rookies to survive through the Sound Invasion. It had weighed on their consciousness for some time. Why them? Why not the other two teams, which had had perfect teamwork? The ones who truly carried the Will of Fire and thought of each other as family?

Once, Neji might have called it fate, because neither of the other teams had a clan genius, a weapon mistress, or one of Konoha's strongest jōnin (and, grudgingly, his not-so-useless protegè).

Now, Lee realized it had been sheer dumb luck.

* * *

Neji faced the young woman with a calm expression, cautiously sipping his tea. If the few scrolls he had previously read on poisoning were anything to go by, the hot beverage wasn't dangerous. He patiently sat through the dinner offerings (which he had politely declined; he had accepted the tea to gain time to asses his opponent) and the sweet talking. Once his 'host' took out the flute though, he decided it was time for action.

Her hair was a bother, at the very least, but it was nothing he couldn't deal with. Sure, he couldn't use Jūken on it, but with all of the weapon practice he had gotten with Tenten, he had a few rather creative ideas as to how to use a kunai, so he knew he would be able to hold it off until he got close enough to take care of his opponent.

* * *

Kiba was on edge. He felt like getting up and going for a walk, but he imagined his scowling expression would scare some of the villagers. And so, he lay on his bed, deep in thought, silently petting Akamaru, who was sleeping next to him.

Kiba's frustration came from a few things; namely, the fact that he was stuck in Konoha, worrying about his teammates, slight jealousy that he was not chosen for the mission, and the fact that he was feeling the former. Because, really, the second he could deal with. But the first? Yeah, they were facing a Sannin, but they had one with them. So why was he worrying? It wasn't like he really cared about them...right?

This may have sounded wrong to anybody should they somehow know what he was thinking. He was from the Inuzuka clan, right? He was supposed to care for his pack, right?

Yes, but no.

His pack included whoever he decided it included. And, to be honest, most of the people on the mission weren't considered from it. Sure, Shikamaru was a childhood friend, and Shino turned out not to be that bad, and the previous day had been fun, but that didn't matter.

It didn't, really. It shouldn't have.

Because, once an Inuzuka got attached to a person, they got _attached._ Literally. They would do anything for them - die for them, kill for them, you name it. It was something that was only really known between the clan members - the weakness to having friends, and close people, even within the clan.

That was why his mother was always so rough, and his sister - so detached.

Because the Inuzuka's attachment was usually their downfall, whether it caused them to do something completely reckless and get themselves (and everyone else) killed, or become a monster just because of that one person.

When you were a kid, it was fine, because kids have this innocence to them, the same that pups did.

However, kids grew into adults, and pups into dogs, or, in his clan's case, wolves.

The day his mother had explained that to him he had stopped questioning his father's death.

And so, he found himself in a very complicated situation, because caring on his part could lead to a lot of things, most of them not good. At this point in time though, he realized that he could either evoke confusion and questions if he avoided the others, or go with the flow and hope that nothing bad happened.

For the first time, Kiba prayed that Naruto's Therapy no Jutsu be used on him.

* * *

Hinata was training under her usual spot in the waterfall, mind full of everything.

Water, as she had discovered recently, had a soothing effect on her. As a kid, she had loved baths just as the next person, and the fact that she could afford it was a plus. Still, she had never given it much thought, but recent events had made her find her solace in water.

She thought that it was what made her different than her fellow clansmen. All of the Hyūga were stoic and calm - precisely what earth symbolized, while water was the opposite - the element of emotion.

It was all quite ironic, when you thought about it.*

While Hinata reflected on everything that had happened in the past few days, she found herself hoping that everyone on the mission was alright, and excited for what was to come after it. She had a good feeling about all of it, really. The twelve of them kind of fit. Different people, different strengths, different weaknesses. But then again, a puzzle could never be complete with the same pieces, could it?

* * *

Shino was silent as he and Shikamaru walked through the corridor in the aftermath of their battle with the snake summon. If he had to be honest, it all felt surreal to him. One day he is going on, minding his own business, next thing he knows another person from his year has fled the village, been brought back, and suddenly, they are on the same team for a yet unclear amount of time, bordering on forever (however long that lasted for them).

As such, the water slide that suddenly appeared under his feet brought both relief and confusion, although he would be lying if he said the latter was stronger.

* * *

Omake: A Dishonor

Cora hiss-sighed (that was as close as a snake could sigh) while he was entering Ryūchi Cave. He was going to get scolded for his performance, he just knew it. If humans thought that male snakes were vicious, they were lucky that they rarely got to meet the female ones; otherwise, most of the world would've had ophidiophobia.

Of course, his sister was waiting for him at the entrance. The next thirty minutes went in scolding, being accused of not being good enough and him defending himself, saying that he had been inexperienced. Then worry about what the "little precious" Orochimaru-sama would have to say for his performance. For a moment, Cora feared what the Snake Sannin would say, but then took another look at his own fearsome sister in front of him. He felt glad that his mother hadn't been home. Otherwise, there would've been hell to pay.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter was rewritten almost entirely. I tried to keep the character development and add more of it. Please, tell me if you think I did good with Kiba especially, I'm worried about how that one turned out.**

***Jūken means gentle fist, which is the adjective that most closely describes Hinata, but she's bad at the technique itself.**

**Ryūchi Cave - the sacred place of the Snakes. An equivalent is Mount Myōboku, which is the sacred place of the Toads.**

**Ophidiophobia - fear of snakes**


	7. A Taste of Redemption

Sasuke was fully conscious of the fact that if he didn't stop hitting the tree with all he had, he was either going to break it or break his knuckles.

Snap.

There went the tree.

Not that his knuckles were much better. They were bloody and hurt like a bitch. Furthermore, the overall look on his face might have been enough for the jōnin watching him to report him for anger (mental) issues and take away his shinobi license forever.

But then again, he didn't really care what they thought. Compared to his crappy week (life), they were annoyances at best.

Speaking of annoyances.

A certain one was on his mind and may or may not be connected to his incredibly bad mood.

It wasn't that he didn't deserve her distrust. He did, really. And he knew that if he should he blame anyone, it had to be himself. He was the one who had basically broken her heart and left her unconscious on a fucking bench. Still, the change was unwelcome and made him (though he'd never admit it) uncomfortable. But only slightly.

That wasn't the worst of it, though. The fact that he had tried to flee the village but had failed was stirring something unpleasant in his stomach. With the (admittedly, deserved) amount of distrust he was receiving in general (expressed in glares, the occasional hushed insult from a bystander, and the silent way the jōnin behind him were communicating at all times) was bothering him.

For a moment, he thought that if he hadn't failed fleeing, he would have probably not be dealing with this right now. Then, he shook his head. He would reap what he had saw and do it without complaining, because, honestly, the Hokage had gone easy on him, and not because of his pretty face. He realized that he owed his team, all of it.

He could start redeeming himself by paying for lunch, he supposed. They were meeting that afternoon at Ichiraku's. He dreaded the discussion that would surely follow. He knew the topic of his betrayal would be brought up. However, when he tried to think of an answer to the accusing and questioning stares, he came up with nothing.

Oh, well. He was just going to have to go with the flow. Before that, though, he should really bandage his knuckles, so as to prevent Sakura from fussing over him.

(He doubted she would, now of all times, but the thought made the situation somewhat more bearable.)

Jiraiya really didn't want to deal with this.

He had never personally gotten a hold of what had happened in the Forest of Death and how Orochimaru had managed to convince Sasuke to join him, but listening to his former teammate happily chatting away everything, he now had a pretty good idea not only of that, but of how bad Uchiha Itachi had messed up his little brother's mind. Honestly, it had to be pretty bad if promises of power like that had been enough to persuade him. Poor kid.

Back to the present, he and Orochimaru were just having a "friendly" spar when Jiraiya's subordinates showed up. The Snake Sannin decided that he had had enough and left, with the promise that Sasuke would join him eventually, leaving his underling Kabuto to fight with them. The medic-nin tried to use one of his special jutsu on Jiraiya, but he had trained with Tsunade, so it didn't work out quite like the young man had hoped, if being thrown into a wall was anything to go by. However, he then started transforming into somebody...something...different.

That was when Sasame ran into the room.

Sasuke knew he was screwed beforehand, but it was only when he saw Kakashi and Naruto waiting for him at the ramen stall (on time), he started reevaluating his definition of the word.

"Sakura's not coming," Kakashi said with no book in sight. Alarm bells were starting to ring in Sasuke's ears. "She has training with Tsunade-sama."

"Hn," the last Uchiha replied and froze, thinking that it may not have been the right thing to say. Kakashi just smiled from under his eye.

Was it time for saying his prayers yet?

Sasuke sat down and told the owner that everything was on him. Naruto, who he would have normally expected to jump up excitedly at the occasion, was silent and wasn't even looking at him. Sasuke was suddenly glad that Sakura wasn't there. The atmosphere was suffocating enough as it was.

They didn't talk while eating, and Naruto even ate only two bowls of ramen. A few days ago he seemed fine with Sasuke being back in Konoha, but the attack had served to remind him just what had happened and who they were dealing with. After all, there were many things Naruto could forgive, but hurting Sakura was not part of that list. Even if he had not intended to, Sasuke still felt guilty about that. Over time, he had grown somewhat protective of her, because he perceived her as weak and naïve, as too innocent to actually realize that the shinobi world was not a nice place. And so he had done whatever was in his power to protect her, and she had slowly grown on him, fangirling (that had, thankfully, lessened) and all. He hadn't lied when he had called her a precious person of his during the Chūnin Exam attack. However, when it came to whether she, or Naruto, or Kakashi, even, were more important to him compared to getting power to avenge his dead family...

Well, what did you expect from a person who had grown up (had been raised to) love his clan and put it before everything? Of someone who had to go through years of hell in forms of nightmares and constant reminders of how he still wasn't strong enough, how he'd never be? Someone who had been saved by hatred, because it was the only thing he had left when all the people he had loved had died (or betrayed him)?

Furthermore, the former question was the most confusing in Sasuke's life, and he still didn't know whether he had made the wrong choice by trying to flee, and now, with the new team and new bonds it promised, the question was either going to finally be resolved, or just get more and more confusing.

Sasuke knew that the 'what if' would haunt him forever. He just hoped that someday he achieved a peace of mind that allowed him to say that it didn't matter either way, and for now, that was killing Itachi.

Sasuke's train of thought stopped just as they reached Training Ground 3. He hadn't even noticed when they'd begun walking. He remembered paying the bill and not much more - that was how deep in thought he had been.

Kakashi beamed from behind his mask. "Now, then, Naruto..."

Sasuke sensed the coming punch, but decided that he deserved it, and so he took it without so much as a grunt. Naruto, for his part, seemed to be breathing heavily. Anger was radiating from him.

A flash of red danced through Sasuke's mind, but he decided it was not the time for that.

Next thing he knew, Naruto had already grabbed him by the collar and was rather silently telling him what big of an idiot he was, how he didn't need Orochimaru, of all people/snakes/whatever the hell he was for power, they were more than enough to help him and how if he ever hurt Sakura that way again he would break his skull _and I mean it,_ teme.

Sasuke was glad that it was over. Naruto being angry and quiet was a phenomenon he didn't want to have to experience again.

Then Kakashi opened his mouth.

"Since you seem so sure that Orochimaru is the only available source of power, I guess I should show you why I was already a jōnin at your age and ANBU only a few years later."

Kami have mercy.

The next two hours were the most painful and exhausting in Sasuke's entire life.

He found himself smirking.

Home sweet home.

After defeating Arashi the monster (which took exactly one Rasengan, with shadows, bugs and overall inability to move preventing the target from escaping), Jiraiya and his squad met up with the summon and Sasame recognized the girl as one of her clan. The group left and found the clan in a nearby town. After some thanks from the people and promises for visits, they headed back towards Konoha.

"So, captain, what did Orochimaru say, if you don't mind me asking?" Shikamaru inquired on their second day of traveling.

"Nothing you should worry about," Jiraiya replied, appreciating the respect he was getting as a superior. Now, if he got a hot bath, a fine woman, some sake and a certain blond idiot to treat him the same way, life might feel good again.

"I imagine," Shino drew attention, looking straight ahead, "that it had something to do with Sasuke-san."

Jiraiya sighed. "Yeah."

"I wonder what sort of person would even consider accepting such an offer," Neji added off-handedly, but no one was fooled. The Hyūga clan and the Uchiha clan had never liked each other much, even the younger generation knew that, but one could say that Naruto's fight with Neji also had some part in the hidden venom in his voice.

"I wouldn't put the question this way," Jiraiya stated, gathering curious stares. "Rather, what sort of thing does a person have to experience to even consider such an offer, even more - act on it?"

That left everybody in silence. They all knew about the Uchiha massacre, but nobody really knew what exactly had happened that night, beside the murdered himself and Sasuke. They had imagined it had been bad, but just how much?

This question left the boys silent for the rest of the trip.

Danzo crumpled the report he had received from his subordinate, anger filling him like a never-ending storm. He exited his office in the underground bunker in a brisk pace, quickly getting to the Hokage Tower. His expression scared away most of the younger ninja in his path and made uneasy the rest. He found Homura and Koharu calmly sipping their tea. Danzo made an effort to compose himself, at least to a certain degree, but the whole thing had gotten under his skin more than it should have.

"A team? A bloody team, consisting of all the rookie shinobi, and she doesn't even think to consult us? That is beyond insulting - it is downright blasphemous!"

Koharu put her tea cup down and leveled Danzo a steady gaze.

"We realize, Danzo. And we already tried to reason with Tsunade; said the decision may be unwise - she is wasting time and potential income from the missions these twelve would otherwise be on, - but she will not hear any of it. These genin are a ticking time bomb. It is only a matter of time before they have a serious argument and go at each other. This is what the four-man team system was designed for - it was both the most optimal and economical solution to the situation. She is going to trash her predecessors' legacy if she keeps it up."

"And what do you propose to do about it? We cannot simply sit around and wait for the bomb to go off! What if she decides to do the same with other teams? This will lead to an even bigger disaster!"

Homura fixed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and calmly broke what would have been a pointless argument caused by Danzo's aggression. "We cannot do anything, for now. Anything official, that is. However, even if we decide to ignore standard procedures, what could we do then?"

"Konoha will not stand with us," Koharu stated firmly. "There was a bit of calamity over the Uchiha's attempted fleeing, but although he still isn't trusted, they will not battle Tsunade on the decision. They like the idea of a bigger team, consisting of all the rookies, for they all showed potential during the Chūnin Exams. The citizen body will not understand a reason for disobedience, and attempting to convince them would prove to be futile. And the village is already unstable as it is, trying a revolt will not work out well. No, we must seek other options. Danzo?"

The latter's thoughtful facade dropped as he looked at his companions. An idea had formed itself in his head. It was risky, but them again, wasn't the whole partnership that way?

"Tsunade will bring Konoha down," Danzo stated slowly, in a calm voice. "We all know that Hiruzen's methods will not work in the long run. The way I see it, it may be best to be allied with our enemies, and weed out our insusceptive to reason allies."

"What are you implying?" questioned Homura with a serious face.

"I believe it is time I told you about my correspondence with Orochimaru."

 **A/N: And that is it for this chapter! I hope I didn't ruin Sasuke's** character, **because my point of view on him is different than a big part of fandom, I think. That's all - out.**


	8. Training Program

"Well, congratulations, then," said Tsunade after hearing the report from Jiraiya about his and the Konoha Twelve's mission.

They didn't know what those congratulations were for, though - it wasn't like they had managed to stop Orochimaru or Kabuto or anything, nor did they find something about the Snake Sannin's future plans. The only things they achieved we're saving Sasame's clan, destroying the hideout, which was basically abandoned, and getting out alive. The last one in itself was an accomplishment, though.

"But we didn't do that much of a thing," muttered Tenten, but everyone heard her and the rest of the Twelve silently agreed.

"I wouldn't call saving a clan nothing, Tenten," the Goddaime contradicted, "True, you didn't take out a Sannin or his year-long appreantice, but then again, no one expected you to. This mission could be referred to as a S-rank - you snuck into an enemy's hideout, learned his purposes for attacking a comrade and judged that said enemy is plotting something. You pretty much went on the mission to find out just that. This is what matters."

The group of gennin and chunin were suprised at the Hokage's words. Really, what were they thinking? No one could have seriously expected them to take out a Sannin even if they did have one on their side. Their spirits lifted up and the tension in the room dissolved.

"Now that that's over, on the topic of your training," Tsunade started, gaining their attention again, "The night of your sleep-over at the Uchiha Mansion, I and your senseis decided on what you could improve, what you should start training, how we could help you and how you could help each other," she smiled at their again suprised expressions, "Tonight, all of them are returning from a mission and they are leaving for another in two days. Today rest and meet them tomorrow at ten o'clock on Training ground 27 and we will explain everything, understood?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the Twelve replied and went home to prepare for the next day.

"May I leave, Tsunade-hime?" asked Jiraiya and his old teammate turned her attention towards him.

"No, Jiraiya, there is something I need to discuss with you," she stated.

"Is it about Naruto's training? Because if it is, you should know that soon I'll be leaving the village to do a research on Akatsuki," he warned.

"It's not just just about Naruto's training. It's also about something else," the Hokage replied.

"About what?"

"I want you to tell him who his parents were, about his clan and I want you to teach him and Tenten fūinjutsu."

* * *

The Twelve met their respective senseis the next day at the precise time and place. They greeted each other. Tsunade and Jiraiya were watching from behind a tree and some bushes.

"So, we must first teach you some basic lessons for a shinobi," Asuma started.

"What, like taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu?" Sakura asked.

"No, not this time, Sakura," Kakashi replied, "If you want to know what they are, first start fighting us."

"What? Why?" demanded Kiba, Akamaru barking on his head as if in agreement.

"Just do it, you'll see," said Kurenai. The Twelve threw looks at each other and waited for one of them to start. Eventually, Naruto, as impatient as ever, threw a kunai at Asuma, who, instead of dodging or blocking it, caught it and send it flying back at the blonde, who blocked it.

"Lesson number one," the jōnin sensei of Team Ten started, "Weapons and Amo. Remember that in battle, you could and have to use everything you can in order to win. If an enemy throws a kunai or shuriken or he loses another weapon, use it against him. The more weapons you have, the better, right, Tenten?" said girl nodded, "As for amo, such can be used in different types of weapons. For instance, Shizune, Hokage-sama's assistant, has a weapon, which sends senbon needles. In this case, the needles are the amo and are for more than one-time use. However, if you manage to collect them, her weapon would be useless."

"Yes, but what if she replicates them?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, first, I don't think there is a jutsu that can replicate senbons," Kakashi told his student, "and even if there was, usually when people use weapons with amo, their attacks are long-ranged and usually they are weak at shorter ranges or don't have enough chakra - not everyone has as much as you. In this case, we have Shizune, who is a medical ninja and they usually don't have that much chakra, because they need advanced control."

The blond nodded.

"Lesson number two," announced Kurenai as she started the hand sighns for a genjutsu, "Stealth," and she disappeared. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, but couldn't find her. He looked around and cursed; he remembered that the Bloodline Limit could only see if a person was under a genjutsu and they most certainly were. He saw that Neji and Hinata had activated their Byakugan, but looked just as confused as the rest. Sakura, being the one good with genjutsu, tried to dispel in, but to no avail.

"Do you know what makes a shinobi a shinobi?" Kurenai's voice asked out of seemingly everywhere, "It's not the chakra manipulation - with hard work, even a civilian can achieve that. It's two things and one of them is stealth - the ability to use the element of suprise, to get to places and learn secrets without being caught. Or, as some use it, to murder silently."

Suddenly, Gai appeared behind Shikamaru and aimed a kick towards his head. The latter barely managed to avoid it, but didn't see the one, coming at his chest. It sent him flying over to Ino, who caught him.

"Lesson number three," the 'youthful' adult started, for once completely serious, "Deception. It is the other thing, beside stealth, that makes a shinobi a shinibi. The ability to deceive your enemy, to lure them into thinking they are safe, when they aren't or to give them a false sense of alarm. The ability to mask your true intentions."

The four jōnin appeared next to each other and started attacking the students. Kurenai trapped them in another genjutsu, but Team Eight were quite familiar with her techniques. They managed to warn the others whenever they sensed danger, but it was still hard. In the end, Naruto and Kiba started attacking each other, thinking they were enemies and Hinata and Shino we're trying to stop them. In the meantime, Asuma fought off the others, who were trying to near Kurenai and Kakashi was using **Fūton** against Lee, who had so far successfully dodged every attempt. Sasuke saw this and remembered how his father once told him that **Katon** was stronger than **Fūton**. He decided to help the green-clad ninja and started countering Kakashi's attacks with his own. That helped Lee, who started being in offense and tried to land a hit. So far, unsuccessfully, but Kakashi was the second fastest jōnin after Gai.

Gai himself aimed a punch at Chōji, who, albeit not all that fast, had learned his lesson and managed to dodge. Seeing that, Kakashi **Shunshin** -ed and left Lee to land a kick at a tree. The Copy-nin appeared behind Chōji and put a kunai at his throat. Kurenai dispelled her genjutsu and gathered with Asuma and Gai around Kakashi. That brought everyone else' attention towards the small group and their eyes widened, seeing the kunai at Chōji's neck.

"Lesson number four," Kakashi started, "Comradeship. The one thing that brought Konoha most of it's glory. I see that, even though you are still getting to know each other, you are already developing strong relationships. In the end, those who abandon the mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. Remember that. So, what do you do in this situation?"

Suddenly, Kakashi's one eye widened and he barely managed to evade Naruto's punch from beneath. He had hid behind the others, performed the **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu** and had attacked from the ground. Since he had aimed at his sensei's jaw, which was next to Chōji's head, the jōnin had no other choice but to jump back and let the Akimichi go.

"Thanks, Naruto," said the saved boy.

"No problem, Chōji," the blonde replied and both of them stepped back towards the rest of the Twelve.

The jōnin stood there for a moment, before slowly cracking smiles.

"You did quite well," Kurenai complimented.

"Yes, the Flames of Youth burn brightly within you all!" Gai shouted.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted back.

"Lee!"

"Gai-sen-"

"Okay, that's enough," Tsunade interrupted what would have been another sunset hug, coming from behind the tree with Jiraiya, "I must admit, brats, you did well. Now, we can discuss your training."

All of the genin and the chunin were now listening. They wanted to learn, alright - they also knew they had to take their training seriously. Orochimaru was going to be back - that much was for sure, - but also, because they were a special team. To be formed, the Hokage must've had great excpectations and none were willing to fail.

"As I said yesterday, the program will be based on learning not only from your jōnin senseis, but also from your teammates. Every single one of you has an area in which they exceed and could help the others exceed too. It is not guaranteed that you would be as good as said person in the area - that, most likely, won't happen, - but the person will help you to improve. Then, the only thing that will help you is experience.

Now, I will announce what I and the other senseis think each one of you should train excessively and what they could improve on. Remember: you can't be good at everything. If you remain weak in one area, you must know that that is what teammates are for - to cover for eachother's weaknesses. "

They all nodded.

"Good, now we begin. First off, Aburame Shino. As far as we know, you exceed in your clan's ninjutsu, but your taijutsu is pretty average. Do you know what your chakra affinity is?"

He shook his head.

"Wait, what do you mean by chakra affinity?" asked Naruto.

"Based on what ninjutsu the shinobi uses, the amount of chakra will be different, as would the element the ninja employs. The five main elemental types are also the names for the Five Great Shinobi Nations: Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth and Water. Each ninja has the potential to better utilise one of these styles and maybe more. The one you best utilise is your elemental affinity. To discover what it is, you need chakra paper," the Goddaime explained, pulling out a package of said paper from inside her clothes, "If you want to know what your affinity is, just take a piece of paper and channel chakra through it. Depending on the way the paper reacts the affinity differs. Shino, would you like to know what yours is?"

"I would, Hokage-sama, although I'm afraid I won't be needing the information - the insects in my body feed on chakra, so I cannot really do anything about it. I just want to satisfy my curiosity," Shino replied. Once again, the others didn't know what to make out of his honesty. Sure, it was good that he was opening up, but it was still strange.

Tsunade gave him a piece of paper and waited as he channeled chakra. The paper ignited and burned to ashes.

"You have an affinity for Fire, which is the most common one in our country," the Fifth explained, "Very well, Shino, but you can't just survive on your clan's ninjutsu. You should improve your taijutsu and learn to wield some kind of weapon. Tenten, could you teach him?"

It sounded more like a demand than a request.

"Sure," the brown-haired girl replied. She had always been proud about her ability to wield weapons, but she supposed that it was time to share some of her knowledge with the others - after all, none of them seemed interested in exceeding in it and they were going to help her too.

"Thank you. Shino, any objections?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Good. Moving on - Akimichi Chōji. You too seem to be doing fairly well in your clans techniques, but your taijutsu needs a lot of work. Do you know your affinity?"

"No, Goddaime-sama, but I would like to."

Tsunade handed him a piece of paper. As he put his chakra in it, it turned to dirt.

"Earth type," she seemed suprised and fairly amused, "it is the most common one in Iwa. Would you like to learn ninjutsu with it?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Then it is decided - you should train your clan's techniques separately at home and use them in a spar against the others, while learning **Doton** ninjutsu and improving your taijutsu."

"Alright, Hokage-sama."

"Then, we shall continue. Haruno Sakura. As my appreantice I will teach you medical ninjutsu and taijutsu, although you should polish your basics in the first and, if possible, advance further. I would also recommend learning genjutsu due to your advanced chakra control. Although medical ninjutsu sometimes takes up a lot of chakra, if you learn a not-so-draining genjutsu then it may be of help. I will also give you my summoning contract in time. Would you like to know more about your chakra affinity?"

"No, Hokage-sama. I think that the above would be enough for me. Also, thank you," Sakura replied.

"Very well, then. Next up, Hyūga Hinata. To be honest, you were never that good in your clan's techniques, although I'm pleasantly suprised to learn from Kurenai that you have improved. Do you know why?

"Well, H-Hokage-s-sama, now that I t-think about it, it m-may be because my chakra n-nature is different. Most p-people in the clan are E-earth types and if I'm a d-different one, it could be the cause of my problems."

"Let's test your theory out, then," Tsunade said while handing her a piece of chakra paper.

Hinata took it and it became damp.

"You are correct, Hinata; you are Water-natured. I think there hasn't been anyone in the clan before, except maybe your mother, who has had this affinity. I think she had some notes 'for future generations', as she put it. I'll search for them and if I do find them, I'll tell you right away. Anyway, train the same way you did before, it seems to be working for you. Except that, train your regular taijutsu and **Suiton** ninjutsu - you could very well be the only one in this group with this affinity and you might need it in battle."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Next, Hyūga Neji. I don't really have that much to say to you - you are a prodigy, after all. Continue with the Hyūga clan techniques, which I suppose you will use your chakra with, and taijutsu. Also, I want you too to learn how to wield a weapon and adapt it to your fighting style - it may come in handy. Any objections?"

"No, Goddaime-sama."

"Okay then. Next - Inuzuka Kiba. You have your clan's jutsus and you are pretty good at them, I suppose. I think a weapon could be good for you too - you have developed fast reflexes over the years of training in your clan's fighting style and it could be really useful. Do you want to learn element ninjutsu as well?"

"Yes!" he nodded enthusiastically. Tsunade handed him a paper and it ignited and turned to ashes after he channeled chakra through it.

"Another Fire type," the Fifth remarked, "Since this is common only Konoha nin and not that much in other countries, it could be an advantage. Any protests?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Then it is Nara Shikamaru's turn. You have your clan's ninjutsu and have the potention of a great strategist. Do whatever you can to train you mind. Do you now your elemental affinity?"

"No, Hokage-sama," he said and got a paper. He put chakra and it turned to dust.

"Another Earth type. I would suggest you learn ninjutsu with it, seeing as taijutsu and wielding a weapon are far too much troublesome."

"Yes, Goddaime-sama."

"Now, next in line is Rock Lee. Lee, we all know that you can't use your chakra and I'm sure that your advanced taijutsu skills will be pretty useful, but this is where I'm giving you a harder task - I want you to learn how to wield _at least_ three weapons by choice. Tenten, I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you to take over the training of those who have to use weapons. How many can you wield?"

"Excluding kunai and shuriken? I can fight pretty well with a bō staff, tanto, katana, nunchaku and kusari kama. At others I'm pretty average, but I know how to fight decent enough with over ten weapons," the girl stated. All of the others, beside Team Gai, looked awed. Lee and Gai smiled brightly while Neji smirked. Tenten was not one to underestimate during battle even with the whole Temari fight during the Chunin Exams. After that, she had trained even harder and improved her wielding at several weapons and scroll usage.

"I hope that it won't be a problem then?" the Goddaime asked, looking at the girl with new eyes.

"No, not at all, Hokage-sama."

"Very well then. Moving on - Tenten, you already summaried your abilities with weapons, but how about those with sealing?"

"I know only the seals that I use for my scrolls and they are storage ones. Otherwise, I don't know anything really combat-suited."

"Continue to improve your current wielding abilities and taijutsu. I will tell you later what to do about your sealing abilities, though.

Next - Uchiha Sasuke. You can fight with **Katon** ninjutsu and are quite proficient in taijutsu. I suggest you focus on them, plus wielding a weapon. Anything else?"

"Hokage-sama, I don't think Fire is my affinity, though. Could I try out the chakra paper?" the Uchiha replied. The Goddaime gave him one, curious. He channeled chakra through it and it crumbled.

"Lightning affinity, then," the Fifth said, impressed, "That is the main affinity of Kumo nin. Very rare in other countries. I suppose that Kakashi could help you there," the Copy-nin nodded, "Well, anything else?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Now, Uzumaki Naruto," she made a pause, "Naruto, do you know who your parents are?"

"No," he said, looking confused.

Shikamaru sighed, "This is so troublesome. And obvious - your father is the Yondaime, Namikaze Minato. I don't know how anyone didn't notice earlier - you look exactly like him, except for the face shape."

There was a stunned silence at the Nara's words. Naruto was gapping, then he looked down at the ground and started playing with a pebble. The others glanced at him, worried. Why wasn't he excited?

"Good," he said and looked up, wearing his trademark grin, "Then I suppose I could put my goal in another way - I will surpass my father and become a greater Hokage than him, believe it!"

Everyone smiled at his antics.

"And what about my mother, then?" the Yondaime's son asked.

"Oh, that one is pretty obvious too," Shikamaru lazily said, "Her name was Kushina Uzumaki."

"Wait, wait, as in from _the_ Uzumaki clan?" Tenten was bouncing excitedly.

"What do you mean?" Ino questioned.

"The clan came from Uzushiogakure in the Whirpool Country. They were distant relatives of the Senju and therefore had great relationships with Konoha. The Uzumakis were famous for their longevity and as the best seal masters in the whole shinobi world," Tenten turned to Naruto, "The Fourth Hokage was also pretty good with fūinjutsu. Naruto, it must be in your blood," she bounced again. The weapon misstress then stopped and frowned, when realization dawned her, "So _that_ is how the Kyubi reached Konoha! With their seals, chakra chains and long lives, the Uzumakis are perfect for being Jinchūriki and I bet that your mother was the one before you."

Tsunade and Jiraiya shared a look. The genin and chunin knew far too much about the night Naruto was born for their own good.

"Excelent deduction, Tenten, right?"

Said girl nodded at the Frog Hermit's question.

"In this case, I would like to take you and Naruto as my appreantices in fūinjutsu. I am currently the only seal-master in Konoha, anyway. Sadly, I must soon leave you, because I'll have a mission next week. Until then, Tenten, I'll give you the task to teach Naruto the basics and, once he's caught up, I'll give you a few scrolls with seals of variating levels of difficulty for you to learn until I come back. Do you accept?"

The two genin shared a look, then grinned, "HAI!"

"Okay then," Tsunade interrupted, "Moving on. Naruto, you are Jiraiya's appreantice, you will study fūinjutsu, taijutsu and I suppose that you don't know what your affinity is," she handed him a piece of paper. The boy put chakra into it and it sliced perfectly in half.

"Wind Nature, then," The Fifth said, "This is the common affinity in Suna. You have people with all five elemental affinities in the group. With proper training in teamwork and ninjutsu, you won't have to worry about those kinds of battles. Asuma, Wind was your affinity, right?"

The jōnin nodded, "I will see to the boy's education in ninjutsu."

"Very well, then. Last, but not least, Yamanaka Ino. You have your clan's ninjutsu, but aren't proficient in taijutsu. Do you know your affinity?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Here you go," she handed the girl a paper. Ino chaneled chakra and it turned to dust.

"Another Earth type, then. Would you like to learn Justus with it?"

"No, Hokage-sama, but I have another suggestion. Since I heard the story of how Sakura's team went to the Wave Country, I was wondering if I too could use senbon needles to, with proper medical education, strike vital points. Even if I don't kill the enemy, it might be enough for me to take control over their body. Plus, if I learn how to apply poisons, it can be even more deadly. My clan has a few scrolls about herbs."

"That is an interesting request, Ino. I think that Shizune wouldn't mind to teach you how to fight with needles as well as the vital points in one's body. As for the poisons, I think that Shikamaru's father would gladly help, right?" Tsunade turned towards the lazy chunin.

"He wouldn't mind, I suppose," the Nara shrugged.

"Okay then, now we are finished. But that isn't all, I'm afraid. The four lessons you learned and some other will be applied in your training as well. Your jōnin senseis have noticed proficiency in those skills in some among this group. Therefore, every week, beside individual training and missions, you will have lessons from your new teammates on one of these subjects. I will try to keep the missions as short as possible, but don't count on it. I want you to use your spare moments for training and resting, nothing more. The subjects are: Weapons, which will be lead by Tenten. The reason some of you were assigned to learn this is because they have to master a weapon. For the rest, they just need to work well enough with at least one weapon. The second one is Stealth, which will be lead by Naruto for understandable reasons, I pressume," the blond smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. There almost _wasn't_ a person in the village that wasn't pranked by him. Over the years, his stealth had increased and since it was vital for a shinobi, it was an important subject as well. A downfall was that he didn't use it in battle, though.

"The third subject will be Deception, lead by Aburame Shino. I want you to teach the others how to mask their emotions or how to lead the enemy to believe something else. Neji will assist you by teaching them how to read expressions and gestures. The fourth subject will be Chakra Control and Manipulation, lead by Sakura. She has near perfect control and it will help you greatly in not only in ninjutsu, but in stealth and deception as well. There are shinobi who are able to tell where one is or how he feels, whether he lies or not by sensing chakra. Ino, Asuma said that you have similar abilities, but in a lot more earlier stage. I want you to develop them with Sakura's help. The fifth subject will be Strategy, lead by Shikamaru. Don't you dare say you won't do it because it is too troublesome, Nara, or else," the Goddaime sent a warning glance at the boy, who nerviously nodded. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of the Slug Princess' warth.

"There will also be a sixth subject, named Taijutsu. I've noticed that there is a major lack of skills in this particular area. You don't have to be proficient in it, just to bring it to a decent level. Lee, please, take this one over, but don't overwork them if they do not wish.

For other things like setting up traps, tracking, first aid and such your jōnin senseis will aid you.

Now, I realize that some of you will have a lack of skill in these subjects. You don't have to be perfect. Remember - a team is created because you have to cover the comrades' weaknesses and they to cover yours. So aid your comrade and you will be aided as well. With that, you are dissmissed. Tomorrow, you will start your first lesson on Chakra Control and a new regimen of training. Rest, because it will be a long day," Tsunade finished her speech.

"Hai," all the genin replied and went home.

"And you," she turned to the jōnin, "Rest for your mission. It will be an A-rank, after all."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," and with that, they vanished.

"Do you believe in them?" Jiraiya asked.

The Goddaime smiled, "Of course. After all, I wouldn't place a bet for the life of me on them. Except if Naruto does - that kid sure has a knack for gambling."

Jiraiya remembered how the blond won from a scratch from one of those street lotteries, "Yes, he does. I hope you aren't planning anything to do about it."

Tsunade smiled like an angel, "No, of course not."

The Frog Hermit just sighed.

* * *

A/N: Sorry that I didn't upload yesterday, but I had a lot of editing to do. At least it was a long chapter.

Now, the next few will be with the first lessons of each subject plus some glimpses in their individual training. What do you think of the abilities they will have?

Also, I just want to say that Tenten is underrated. And I think that she is awesome. Remember the background I gave her? I hope that it makes the whole "being able to wield more than ten weapons decently" thing a bit more understandable.

Jiraiya was going to tell Naruto about his parents, but Shikamaru kind of stole his spotlight. :D

And yes, Tenten and Naruto are going to learn fūinjutsu! Naruto would obviouslyexcel in it and she too has some experience, so you could expect two future masters. ;)

I'll list how the elemental jutsu are called and which is stronger than which for future reference:

Fūton - Wind Style

Katon - Fire Style

Doton - Earth Style

Raiton - Lightning Style

Suiton - Water Style

Katon Fūton Raiton Doton Suiton Katon

I also don't know if Kakashi can use Wind. According to Narutopedia, in the anime he can use all other four elements. Although it would kind of "disturb" him because his affinity is for Lightning I think that he might be able to copy a basic Fūton ninjutsu.

Okay, you can call the next few chapters fillers if you want, but they are an important part of the progress that the others will make. Plus, chapter eleven will have a moment of a pairing that I've been only slightly foreshadowing. Can you guess which one it is?

Lastly, on Wednesday it's Sasuke's birthday (and my mother's also; I do not know how to feel about this)! I missed Kiba's (7th of July) and Neji's (3rd of July). So happy (belated and yet to come) birthdays to them!

Thank you for reading the story so far, have a nice day and maybe review. :)


	9. Chakra Control and Manipulation

The Konoha Twelve assembled on the next day at around ten o'clock on Training ground 27. It was Monday - the start of a new and important week in their lives.

Their first training session as a team.

Sakura had done a research the day before the meeting and had a good idea of what to do. She looked at the group and decided to start with basic questions. However, she noticed that Lee had sat down away from the rest. He didn't really need those lessons, but had resolved to come, just to be there.

"Alright, I suppose you all know what chakra is and basic control, meaning molding it. Have you done any exercises for control?"

"S-Sakura-san, we've already d-done the tree walking e-exercise with Kurenai-sensei," replied Hinata. She really hated the fact that she stuttered so much, but knew that it had to do with her lack of confidence, although it had increased after the Chunin Exams. She thought that those lessons and interaction with the others could do something about it, that she could show them just how much she had improved.

"We've already mastered that, too," remarked Shikamaru.

"And we're already pass the water walking one," remembered Tenten.

"So, Team Eight and Team Ten haven't mastered water walking. We too have mastered it, so I want you six to follow me. The others wait here, I have an exercise ready for you," instructed Sakura and lead the two teams towards a small river, near the bridge where Team Seven's meetings were usually held.

Sakura explained how to do the exercise and told them to be careful in the beggining and not go too much into the water. She told them to come back once they've mastered it.

The pinkette returned to the others and took a deep breath.

"Tsunade-sama said that we should train by helping each other out. I have an idea how you could train your chakra control, using weapons. For now, only Tenten will be able to do it effectively, since she is the only one who could wield a weapon well enough, but I think that in time, most of us could learn how to do it. We could emb chakra in weapons, but they have to be made by special metal, like Asuma-sensei's knuckle knives. I found out that, although rare and on the slightly pricey side, this metal is definitely worth it and there are a few people in Konoha who could actually craft with it. Tenten, your father is one of them, but before you start making offers from his name, I'm pretty sure that none of us would want your father to work for less money than he deserves. Toghether, we could save money from missions and whoever wants to could buy a weapon of choice, made by this metal. First, he'll need to master it. What do you think?"

"It's a good idea, Sakura-chan," Naruto said and the others nodded. Even Lee had come to join the conversation once he heard about the weapon's part. After hearing what it was about, though, he sadly tilted his head down.

"Lee, I wanted to ask you something," the green-clad ninja suprisingly raised his head, "Can you also tree and water-walk?"

"Yes, yes I can, Sakura-san," he replied.

"Please, you don't need to add the suffix. Anyway, yesterday I researched your problem. Since you can mould chakra, I think that your inability to do ninjutsu and genjutsu is something else.

Ninjutsu is composed of one of the following - Nature Transformation and Shape Transformation. Very few shinobi can use both. In fact, Sasuke and Kakashi sensei's **Chidori** uses both. Nature Transformation is actually an advanced form of chakra control - it requires both moulding _and_ defining chakra into an innate type of chakra nature, altering it's properties and characteristics.

Shape Transformation is also an advanced form of chakra control. It consists of manipulating chakra's physical characteristics - form, size, etc.

However, this chakra metal does not require direct Nature Transformation, nor Shape Transformation. It requires the so-called Chakra Flow. You literally just need enough chakra control to flow your chakra through the metal. You don't have to manipulate it - you just channel chakra and it could gain the properties of the chakra nature. For example, Wind natured chakra can make it extremely thin and sharp, while Fire - engulf it in flames and thus incinerating everything in it's path.

Lee, what I'm trying to say is that there is a way to apply chakra in your fighting style. Taijutsu will remain your first and foremost weapon, but if you do master three weapons and learn how to channel chakra through them..." Sakura's voice faltered and took a look at the taijutsu user.

Lee was staring at her.

Since the day he found out that he couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu like the other kids, he had became the laughing stock of the Academy. After he had miraculously graduated and was placed on Team Gai, he had started training non-stop with his sensei. So what if he could not use ninjutsu or genjutsu, he asked himself. He was going to become an extremely powerful shinobi regardless. When they had learned the tree and water walking exercises, he didn't know what to think. Sure, he knew that he had chakra (every living thing had) and that he could mould it, but his condition wasn't furthermore explained and so he didn't know whether or not he could control it. Later that day, after his teammates and jōnin instructor had gone home, he had tried to do a simple **Henge**. After yet another failed attempt, he didn't know whether to feel relief that his countless hours of training hadn't gone to vain or to scold at himself because of the former. Of course his hard work mattered! He hadn't only learned taijutsu with Gai-sensei - he had also learned how to embrace the Power of Youth!

Still, he had been excited when his idol had started teaching him on how to open the Chakra Gates, even if he wouldn't use them often.

Because, even though he wouldn't admit it, Rock Lee had always wondered what it would be like to use chakra in his fighting style constantly, without much side effects, besides exhaustion. And now, an opportunity awaited him. He just needed to work a little harder.

He started crying from happiness and spontaneously hugged Sakura, shouting, "THANK YOU, SAKURA-SA - I MEAN, SAKURA! May you, youthful cherry blossom, remain this youthful for the rest of your life!"

Sakura was touched. She was getting accustomed to Lee's unusual antics and knew just how much this probably meant to him, for he was using youth only two times in one sentence. It usually reached beyond four. She hugged him back and when he let go, he whipped his tears away and smiled widely.

"Okay, then," the 'teacher' clasped her hands toghether, "Naruto, do you know about the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** 's special side effect?"

The blonde shook his head.

"The effect is that all the memories and knowledge, gathered by the clone, return back to the user. You probably haven't noticed, since you use it only for battle, but it is usually used for stealth missions and information gathering. Imagine it this way - you are training a technique which will take you one week to master. If you create one shadow clone, you will be done in half the time, because you are doing it twice as fast. If you create two clones you will be able to master it in one third of the original time, since there would be three of you doing it."

Naruto had a thoughtful expression on his face. Sakura gave him a little time to think - she knew that he wasn't good with theory. Slowly, his expression changed into one of realization and he looked at her again.

"Okay, so basically if I create shadow clones, my training will go smoother."

"Yes," the pinkette replied, relieved that he had gotten the concept of it. Now all that he needed was to apply it.

"However, remember that you divide your chakra equally amongst the clones and that their exhaustion will also come back to you once they've disspelled," Sakura stated, "Now, I know that you probably have the largest reserves in the group, so you are the one that has most troubles with chakra control. Even if you have mastered the **Rasengan** , you still have to do it with a clone. I want you to master a different technique - one that requires smaller reserves and thus greater control. Make four clones, please."

Naruto did his signature jutsu and the five blondes waited for further instructions.

"Now, Naruto, what I want you to train is...

...the **Bunshin no Jutsu**."

The number one suprising ninja visibly paled. It had been that one technique that he had failed at doing in the Academy every single time. It wasn't even a ninjutsu, but a low-class genjutsu.

If he didn't die after that, he was so going to get Iruka to treat him to ramen.

Naruto wordlessly went away from the others and started training the technique. He remembered the hand-seals all too well - he had had enough nightmares with them. The clones did the same.

"Okay, as for the rest of you," Sakura looked at Lee, Tenten, Neji and Sasuke, "You, Sasuke, will be doing basic Nature Transformation for Lightning types."

The pinkette took out two pieces of fabric, which Sasuke recognized as wool, and a pair of gloves. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Don't look at me like that. Even though you've already mastered the **Chidori** , which is both Nature and Shape Transformation, you still have to go through the basics to be able to performe other jutsus. I don't know if Kakashi told you this, but Lightning Type chakra could cut through objects, like the Wind one, but there is an additional numbness to it. The key is to increase the high-frequency vibrations of your chakra. If you master this and apply it to a weapon, you could paralyze the target and finish it off easily. Got it?"

"Hn."

"Good, now go and train. You will try to cut through one of these pieces, because it channels electricity. That way, you will know whether or not you could achieve the side effect - numbness. Once you could slice through it, try it with the rubber gloves on and the other cloth, increasing the vibrations."

The last Uchiha went without another word.

"Now, you three. What I said earlier is true - a special metal is required to use the Chakra Flow to it's full potential. However, you could use it with normal kunai and shuriken, it just isn't as effective. Here," she handed them chakra paper, "Let's see what your natures are."

It turned out that Tenten and Lee were Fire natured, while Neji - Earth natured.

"Okay then. Tenten, Lee, you know what your nature does. Neji, Earth Type can increase a weapon's defensive power and reinforces the inherent properties of the material involved. In other words, it could make your weapon harder. I think that if you manage to use the advanced form, few things would be able to not break under your weapon. I want you three to channel chakra through your kunai and shuriken, with Tenten trying with other parts of her arsenal. Tenten, Lee, when you flow chakra though your weapons and try to destroy tree branches. Start with thin ones and proceed with thicker ones. Be careful and do it near the river, in case you start a fire. Neji, I want you to flow chakra through one of your oldest and most uncherished kunai and try to make a dent in it with another one that you don't use. Once you can't make a dent in the one with chakra, but rather with the one without chakra, I want you to show me both kunai and tell me through which one you chanelled chakra," finished Sakura. The members of Team Gai nodded and went to do their tasks.

The pinkette decided to check on Team Eight and Team Ten. She found them at the river bank, the girls talking (Hinata was red, so the topic was obviously Naruto) and Shino staying a little bit away from them. Shikamaru, Chōji and Kiba were still trying to stay on the surface of the water. The had made progress, but were still having some difficulties. Shikamaru was even grumpier than usual, repeating ' _troublesome_ ' every five seconds like a mantra or something. Kiba was trying to get Akamaru to try - after all, he couldn't just leave his ninken on the shore during a mission. And Chōji looked saddened, because his usual bag of chips had gotten soaked.

Sakura instructed the ones that had finished the exercise to help the others and she herself helped. After another fifteen minutes everyone knew how to water walk and headed towards the others.

The first one they spotted was Naruto. He did look like he was making progress - there were two **Bunshin** , although they looked sickly. Sakura told him to dissolve all the clones and then work with the newly gained knowledge. He did so and made new ones. Then, he managed to do two successful **Bunshin**. Sakura told him to try and make one and then he would be finished for the day.

Next, they went to Sasuke. He had managed to cut the first cloth, but was having trouble with the second. The pinkette explained that it was because of the glove - he had to first channel chakra through it and then into the fabric, so it was basically another layer. She then took out a third cloth for Hinata and told her how she was supposed to make it damp, using chakra, kind of like a preparation for future **Suiton** techniques. Sadly, Water chakra couldn't be applied efficently to weapons, because it would make them rusty. The Hyūga heiress wasn't planning on becoming proficient in that area anyway. However, the pinkette explained that it could be used to sabotage the enemy's arsenal. Sakura also gave Kiba a leaf and told him to try and incinerate it, explaining how. He went right to do his task. Chōji got the same assignment as Neji, but he was to make a piece of wood harder. Sakura told him to show her that piece later.

She turned to the others - Ino, Shikamaru and Shino. Sakura said that they are to train their reserves and that she was also going to train with them. Shino, Ino and the pinkette all had completed the chakra exercises fairly easy, which showed small reserves. Or, in Shino's case, great control. As for Shikamaru - if he had had bigger ones during the Chunin Exams, he would've won his match. Not that he wasn't promoted anyway, but if it were a real battle, he would've lost his life. So, the four of them had to continuously climb trees until they felt too exhausted to do so.

In the end of the day, everyone were exhausted, but glad. Neji had managed to make a small dent in his second kunai, Naruto - successful one **Bunshin**. Hinata had dampened the cloth, Kiba had burned half of his leaf and Sasuke had made a cut into the second cloth. Lee and Tenten had successfully incinerated some small branches and even one or two with middle thickness and Chōji had presented a harder piece of wood. As for the other four, the results of their training were going to be made clear after time. Sakura congratulated everyone and told them to continue their training, makng it harder. After that, they parted ways and decided to meet the next day for their first training in 'Deception'.

* * *

A/N: This chapter came out later than anticipated, mostly because I had no motivation to edit it, meaning - no reviews. Please, understand that at the moment your opinions are very important. We are talking about their training regimen - it will make them stronger and it will change a lot of things in the future. So, please, review and tell me what you think.

On a side note, I want to tell you about what will happen with major character's deaths, such as Asuma's, Jiraiya's and Neji's.

As you probably know, the first two had to happen because they were the keys to certain characters' developments (Shikamaru and Naruto's, mostly). Meaning that they might be avoided in this fanfic, depending on how the Twelve grow up.

As for Neji, I have already decided. You will have to wait until the end of the story to find out.

Anyway, that was a really long chapter! :) There will be more omakes in the future, revolving around the Twelve's training. Also, important announcement: on the third of August I will be going on a summer camp and I won't be returning until the seventeenth, meaning that I won't be able to update for two weeks! I will try to update at least once before that and I promise to come back with lots of new ideas! Meanwhile, you enjoy other writers' works. I would personally recommend 'It's For a Good Cause, I Swear!' by Sarah1281 or 'Hakumei' by Pryotra.

'Till next time. :)


	10. Deception

Aburame Shino had never thought that he would be a teacher.

He was just far too closed as a person. It was a natural thing for all Aburames, really. Maintaining a swarm of insects in your body and making it function properly usually wasn't an easy task and that was why most people of his clan rarely talked and/or expressed emotion. Even he, who by his clan's standards was a genius in that area and could make his swarm work together with little effort, was just as closed. He supposed that it was due to the enviroment he grew up in.

That was why talking wasn't really his thing and teachers sometimes had to give whole _lectures_.

However, the next day, as he stood before his fellow rookies and it was his task to be a teacher, he shrugged it off. _There was a first try for everything, after all._

He didn't even know where to start. Some of his 'students' already used masks on a regular basis. Sasuke and Neji, for example. Or Naruto, who had been hiding his pain for years. Even Shikamaru sometimes pretended he didn't care (not usually, but it happened).

The Nara wasn't the only one with observation skills, after all.

Shino had a fairly good idea of what to do with the 'hiding emotions, intentions and thoughts' part and he had Neji to help him with reading gestures. He didn't know what to do with the whole 'bluffing', though. Should he ask Naruto for help? After all, he had pretty much fooled most of them with his attitude over the years, but after he had told them about the Kyūbi his act was pretty much exposed. However, over the years the blond's mask had become a part of him. He knew that in serious situations the mask fell, but in normal conditions it remained there.

The Aburame decided that he would have to improvise. He knew a thing or two about deceiving others as well. He prepared himself to talk for the longest in his life.

"Deception is a shinobi's most valuable tool. It could be used in your favor, but also against you. The ability to deceive others could save not only your own life, but that of a comrad as well. It could be really valuable when you are captured and interrogated by enemy shinobi. It is the main thing you will use in every undercover mission.

There are jutsus, like the **Henge** we were thought at the Academy, which can deceive the eye. Other - the ear, third - the nose, etc. However, the more you use, the more likely is that you are caught. You not only have to be extremely careful if you preform one for every sense, but have to have perfect chakra control to further deceive the enemy that you aren't using any jutsu. But people with good chakra control have less chakra and cannot perform techniques for all five senses for a long period of time. Rare are the individuals, who could both have perfect chakra control and big reserves. There is a 'middle ground' in that matter - to perform a jutsu for one and two senses and use your own skills to deceive others and not be detected. Most people choose to hide their smell, voice or fingerprint, seeing as those are unique for each human. In other situations you might need to act differently or have another appearance, but with enough training that is completely possible without techniques. Today, we will learn how to perform a **Henge** that will make you unrecognisable by changing only significant details, leaving the small ones. After everyone knows how the best way to hide their appearance is, you will learn how to change those features without the jutsu. Understood?"

"Hai," the rest of the Twelve replied. All of them, including Shino himself, we're suprised by how much the Aburame had spoken. They knew it was all new for him and decided to obey.

"Now, a full scale **Henge** is used to impersonate a person, animal, plant or inanimate object. However, you could use it to pass as a different individual. For example, if you alter your most recognizable features - darker/lighter hair, eye or skin color, slightly different eye, ear, mouth and nose shape, removal of birth marks, - the whole picture would be of a completely different person. You could do this kind of technique once, take a picture, then save it for later and try to do it without using the jutsu. I want all of you to try this now. I have a camera with me for pictures. Imagine different people and alter your features slightly to resemble theirs. You could even do it with each other - for example Tenten could try to make her eyes darker like Sasuke or Lee's, Naruto and Kiba could hide their birth marks and clan symbols and make their complexion paler like Hinata-san and Sakura's, etc. You could even try to resemble someone else's hairstyle. That would be useful for Sasuke and Shikamaru, for example. Think of other ways. I wil be doing this exercise with you too. Just don't do anything too drastic - the bigger the changes, the more possible it will be for the enemy to detect you."

Everyone nodded and started to experiment with their appearances.

Shino was glad that he had chosen for them to do this first. If they were to meet an enemy while on a mission, it could prove to be invaluable. Nine out of twelve of them were from Konoha clans and could be easily recognized by the enemy, especially Neji and Hinata with their Byakugan and Sasuke if he activated his Sharingan. The other ones had the typical features or traits of their clan and needed to mask them. And although Naruto didn't have the typical hair of the Uzumaki clan, if they ever met Iwa nin on a mission, he would be in big trouble. Shino had looked up the clan's history and knew what had happened at Uzushiogakure. Naruto was like a living replica of his father - no doubt that would cause problems later on.

The others that weren't from clans we Tenten, Sakura and Lee. Tenten could probably pass out as ordinary, but that strongly depended on how famous her father was exactly. And if Sakura was right and her father was one of the few who could use that special chakra channeling metal, she may also be in trouble.

As for the pinkette herself, her features were quite unique. He had seen her mother and father - she mostly resembled the latter. They were merchants and he doubted that there was a person who wouldn't remember a man with dirty purple hair and green eyes in an extraordinary hairstyle and the fact that he had a wife. Two and two could be put together.

Lee was, in terms of both appearance and character, a mini-Gai. The green-clad jōnin was quite famous outside Konoha and that resemblance could be dangerous.

All in all, the variation of **Henge** could prove to be one of their most useful skill while on missions involving espionage, infiltration and information gathering. Usually those missions were at least B-rank, but Shino knew that the Hokage probably had high expectations of their modest group of genin.

Whether they would be fullfilled or not was a different matter altogether, though.

The Aburame snapped out of his thoughts and focused on the task at hand. Most of his 'students' had already started. He took a notepad and pencil out of one of his jacket's inner pockets. He actually was quite good as an artist, although he would never tell anyone. Once, Kiba and Hinata had found out and his male teammate had joked, telling him that it was 'an essential ninja skill' and the Hyūga had complimented him and had told him that it was nothing to be ashamed about. Nevertheless, Shino didn't drew quite often. He just didn't see why.

One of his clan's traits in appearance were the sunglasses. Some people would say that they wore them because the eyes were the windows to the soul. In reality, the eyes were the body part that reflected light the most and some of the insects were quite sensitive to it. Maybe he could just use a different model. Also, the pale complexion was very common. Shino didn't understand why most of the Konoha population, especially the female part, had pale skin, seeing as it was sunny and warm all year long. Even during winters it didn't snow as often. He decided to make his skin slightly tanner. Not like Kiba or Naruto's, but Tenten's. Also, he didn't want to give up on the high collar - he didn't want his mouth to be viewed for some odd reason he couldn't quite place. He decided to use a piece of cloth instead. Also, he would make his hair appear shorter and more straight and make himself not seem as tall - also a common trait among his clan. For clothing he choose a t-shirt, shorts and sandals. That way, his overall appearance, with the cloth on his mouth and sunglasses, would be of an addolencest sailor from Wave or Water Country. That could be useful while on a road to one of these or he could pretend that he has something to sell to the other countries (fish and other sea creatures) and use it as an excuse to pass by ninja. Perfect.

Shino made a sketch of his new appearance and did the **Henge no Jutsu**. The result was quite satisfying - there was no way he could be associated with his clan. The others, some of whom were finished, looked at him and said that he was completely unrecognisable. Shino slightly smiled under his cloth - being complimented appealed even to the stoic Aburame. Hinata took his picture and he disspelled the jutsu, saving the shot for later on.

Meanwhile, Ino had just finished her own false appearance. Her hair was dirty blond and her eyes were slightly greenish. Her skin was tanner and she was a tad bit taller. Her hair was also short (in reality it had grown after the Chunin Exams, but she still had a long way to it's previous length) and not left to fall freely. She wore an indigo dress and sandals. Her eyes were also slightly round shaped and her lips - bigger. All in all, it was a really good performance for a girl who prided herself with her own good looks.

Sakura was also finished. Her hair was red and her eyes were more green than their usual blue-green color. Her hair was also longer and her eye shape - more oval. She had a fish braid as a hairstyle and wore an olive green vest with darker shorts and sandals. Overall, she was urecognisable.

Sasuke was just getting his picture taken by Naruto. His hair was a really dark brown and his eyes were dark grey, like steel and almond-shaped. His unusual hairstyle was replaced with one that resembled Kiba's. He was tanner and taller. his clothes were like his usual ones, except that he didn't have the Uchiha crest on his back and he didn't have a high collar. He could pass as Tenten's relative, sibling even. He too couldn't be recognized, compared to his normal appearance.

Tenten herself was nearly finished. Her hair was a light, hazel like color and her eyes were dark green-brown. She had decided to keep her eye shape, but her face was slightly oval. She had a fair complexion. She was wearing a midnight blue vest and black shinobi pants that reached her ankles. The only thing she couldn't decided on was her hairstyle. Eventually, she settled on two Tsunade-like pigtails. Hinata took her picture.

The Hyūga heiress herself had made her dark blue hair black and longer. She had made her eyes a pale blue, like Ino's normally were, and had added a pupil. Their shape remained unchanged, but her face was more rectangular-like. She wore a black T-shirt and dark blue shorts. Her complexion was as pale as always.

Neji had made his eyes appear a light honey-like color. His hair was shorter and he was tanner. He was also shorter. His eye shape was more like Naruto's and his face one had remained the same. He was wearing a beige vest, like Tenten's, and black ninja pants, which went to his ankles. No one could say he was his clan's prodigy. Tenten took his picture.

Lee came to Shino and told him his idea for an appearance. He was planning on wearing a hat to cover his hairstyle and wear jackets and long ninja pants to cover his usual green attire. He said that he didn't know what to do about face and eye shape and such, but had decided to use foundation for his face, which would be the only thing that wouldn't be covered. Shino actually quite admired the boy's dream to be a shinobi against all odds - it kind of resembled Naruto's being a Hokage, although the villagers hated him. He was willing to be useful to the group, even if he was facing different criteria. The Aburame told Lee to write down what he had decided and the latter happily leaped off, blessing him with youth. If Shino didn't have his image, he would've sweat-dropped.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still working on his appearance. Shino went to him and gave some pointers. The Uzumaki ended up with brown-blond hair, pale blue eyes with different shape and a more rectangular like face. He also wore a bright blue flannel shirt and shinobi pants, which went a little bit under his knees. They took a picture and he put it into his jacket pocket.

Shikamaru was having a nap. Shino had to wake him up and the Nara just showed him his picture. There stood a boy with dark brown eyes with shape, resembling Ino's, short spiky black hair and a face shape like Naruto's. He was slightly shorter and paler than Shikamaru and wore a light olive green flannel shirt with black shorts.

Chōji and Kiba were also having trouble with their appearances. Shino gave them tips, like he did with Naruto. Chōji ended up having short brown-blond hair (more on the brown side, though), eyes with a color like Tsunade's and a shape like Sasuke's, a more rectangular like face. He was also thinner and taller. He wore his usual clothes, but his T-shirt didn't have his clan's symbol on it and his jacket was black.

Kiba, on the other hand, had black hair with Naruto's hairstyle, hazelnut brown eyes with and oval shape and a bit of a chubby face. He was shorter and was wearing a grey hoodie (similar to his jacket) and a red T-shirt under it. He had black shorts and his clan's marking on his cheeks were gone.

Everyone came back to normal after taking pictures and gathered around the Aburame.

"You did well. Now I want you to go around Konoha and gather supplies for your chosen disguise. You could use wigs, contact lens, new clothes, etc. It will be best if you use **Henge** only for things like skin tone, face and eye shape, voice, body odor and such. After you have gathered all that you will need, you are free to go home and rest or continue training. What lesson shall we have tomorrow?"

"Since 'Stealth' and 'Deception' pretty much go toghether like Asuma and Kurenai-sensei said, it would only be logical for tomorrow to be 'Stealth'," remarked Shikamaru.

Everyone nodded in agreement, Naruto a bit absentmindedly. He was going to be a teacher! He, the Academy number one dead last! Oh, the irony.

Nevertheless, he promised to himself to do his best, like always.

After that, everyone went their separate ways.

* * *

A/N: Hello, everybody, I'm back!

Actually, I've been home since Sunday, but I had some troubles with the next chapter and I was constantly out. Keep in mind that this one was probably finally edited, like, an hour before I posted it, so it really isn't procrastinated.

Anyway, I want to make a small note on Tenten: In the manga, her eyes are supposed to be steel gray, not brown, like in the anime. That's why Sasuke could be her sibling with his new appearance.

Also, the Transformation Jutsu they were taught in the Academy is underrated, in my opinion. Think about it this way: if you need a shinobi escort, what better way to hide themselves than to use disguise? That way, an ambush would likely be unsuccessful, because shinobi wouldn't be expected. Even if they are, the bandits wouldn't know how they look like. Of course, it wouldn't always go that way, but it is an interesting topic to ponder on.

So yeah, that was pretty much all I had to say. Next chapter will be up at Monday and that is worst case scenario. Thank you guys for sticking up with this story. Currently, there are more than 3,500 views!

I hope you have a nice day and a review is always welcomed! :)


	11. Stealth

Naruto couldn't have possibly been more excited. It was his first day as a teacher and as such he had woken up extra early, something which rarely happened. He sat down and had breakfast. He looked around and realized that he would have to clean up if he ever intended to invite his friends over.

He stopped eating and smiled at the thought. Before, having friends meant the world to him. He would dream at night, like the little kid he was, about all the possible adventures the world had to offer if he had friends.

Those were the best dreams he had.

Having friends still mattered greatly to him and he appreciated the ones he had, but thinking about them this casually...

...Wow.

He had been so happy when they had accepted him, even after he had told them his secret. He still didn't know how to feel about the fact that the Yondaime was his father and that he was from a noble clan. Naruto knew, though, that his friends wouldn't treat him differently because of that and that they wouldn't tell anyone, not that he wanted someone to know. Everyone that mattered already knew.

That was why he grinned and again promised himself to clean later, after he was done with his lesson. Meanwhile, it would've been good if he actually knew what he was going to teach...

Naruto thought about it for a few minutes, munching on cornflakes. The milk had expired, so he didn't drink any, although he knew he needed it. The shopkeepers still didn't quite accept him, but they at least tolerated him. And even if the prices for him were ever so slightly higher, he didn't mind. He had been through worse. Plus, it wasn't like he hadn't pranked them enough already...

Naruto snapped. He looked at the clock and saw that he had about twenty minutes before the meeting. Perfect. He threw on his usual clothes, grabbed a pencil with an eraser on it, an old notepad and his frog wallet.

It was going to be an interesting day.

* * *

Naruto was already waiting at Training Ground 27 when the rest of the Twelve arrived, smiling with his foxy grin. Even those of them who hadn't known him for that long knew that his teaching methods were going to be quite...

...different.

That was bound to happen, anyway. Naruto wasn't the type of person to learn theory and sometimes didn't understand it, even when put in simple terms. Other times, if he paid close attention he could get the hang of it, but that wasn't all that common.

However, that didn't necessarily make him a retard or anything. Sure, he was sometimes very stupid or dense (like in the 'Hinata' case), but he was actually quite wise for his age. He understood things that others couldn't, or wouldn't. He had opened many people's eyes and was sure to open some more in the future.

The other part of him that wasn't stupid was his prankster one. He had made legendary quests and had humiliated nearly all of the others' families, not that they'd tell. Sasuke and Sakura had seen that part of him in battle and had to admit that it could be quite useful. More so, if properly moulded, it could possible be turned into an actual war strategist.

Who knew.

So yeah, that was Naruto: sometimes the most idiotic person in the world, sometimes the one making the other person feel like one. That was why he probably wouldn't construct his lesson like the others up to then had; no, he was probably going to give an example and maybe answer questions. But since his subject was called 'Stealth' the others didn't even want to know what examples he could possibly give.

"Alright, everybody," the blond caught their attention, "I realize that there isn't much that I can say about how to be good at stealth. You know I am not a man of many words," many eyebrows were raised at that phrase, "So, today, we are going to prank someone (more like I will and you will have to help me gather supplies) and after that you could ask as many questions as you want. Understood?"

"Wait, we are going to prank someone?! Naruto, I don't think that is the appropriate way to teach," Sakura said sternly. In truth, she was worried about him - people in the village did not appreciate his pranks and he often ended up cursed at or banned from certain places. Now that she knew the reason, she knew that there was more to it, but still getting in trouble wasn't the best thing for him.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan! It'll be alright!" the blond protested, "Plus, I already have an idea. Here is what we're going to do."

He started explaining his plan while writting in his notepad. Needed supplies, steps - everything.

* * *

"Oi, Izumo, wake up!" Kotetsu nudged his best friend and life-long partner. Sometimes, during their shift at the gate (it was their main job) they would take turns to nap. It was his turn and he was very tired. His friend, however, remained sleeping, grumbling something incoherent.

Kotetsu sighed and looked around. He noticed a package that hadn't been there a minute ago. It was wrapped in brown paper and the sign on it said, "For Kotetsu-kun from your old Granny!"

The man to really excited. Sometimes, his grandmother would send him home-made cookies. They were his favourite - he had loved them since he had been a child. He hastily opened the box and took out a cookie. It looked fine enough to him. He stuffed it in his mouth and was surprised when it burned his throat.

"AAAAAHHHHH," Kotetsu screamed and knocked the rest of the cookies on the ground. He woke up Izumo and gasped for water.

The other man looked around and saw a bottle leaning casually on the side. He quickly grabbed it and was suprised when it stuck to his hand. It was covered in glue!

Still, there was water in it and he helped Kotetsu drink it. The latter relaxed and helped Izumo to wash off the glue.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away from there, Naruto was running towards the rest of the Twelve.

He reached Training Ground 27 and found them, looking nerviously around. After about ten minutes of convincing, he had managed to persuade them to cooperate. Sasuke had written the note in the box down, using his Sharingan to copy the handwriting (Naruto had one from a previous box). The four girls had made the cookies together, Shikamaru had cleared up the blind spots in Naruto's strategy and Neji had watched the 'enemies' at all times. Choji had tasted the cookies and had deemed them hot enough. Lee and Kiba had searched for all of the supplies and Shino had watched how the "nap-shifts" changed. Naruto had left the box and the water bottle with glue on it.

They were all nervious that they might have been caught, but Naruto told them that it had gone well enough.

It was time for questions. Although Shikamaru and Naruto had both devised the plan, only the latter was asked any questions. Mostly because the Nara had fallen asleep.

"So, how did you put the box and the bottle there?" asked Lee.

"I **Henge** -d into a delivery man and casually walked by, leaving the package. Kotetsu was sleeping and Izumo was looking at another direction, plus I didn't stand out. After Kotetsu woke up it took him quite a while to notice the package, it was nearly the end of his shift. The water bottle was put there while Izumo was sleeping and Kotetsu was reading some book, occasionally glancing upwards.

After placing the things, I just hid a few blocks away and waited. I love being there to watch how my pranks turn out. I wanted to make sure that it worked, even if sometimes it takes a long time until the trap snaps."

"How did you even think of that plan?" Ino questioned.

"Ehh...some people get inspired to write books or music or poetry or whatever and I get inspired to do pranks. It is really random. My best pranks aren't even widely known, since no one would let out the information," the Yondaime's son replied. He hoped that they didn't ask what he meant. He had pranked them before, but they didn't know that it was him who had been the cause of the worst ones.

"How is this all associated to our training?" the logical question came from Shino.

"Well, imagine that you are on a mission and that we had to kill them. In such a case, we could've put poison in the cookies and cover the bottle in acid that would make Izumo-san's skin peel off. Plus, the subject is called 'Stealth'. I don't wear orange so much just because it is my favourite color, you know! I also wear it because that way they are searching for it and I could just change quickly into some clothes or **Henge** and they wouldn't even notice because they would be so busy looking for orange," came the reply, "Any more questions?"

The others looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Good, you are dismissed, then. You could continue with your individual training. What will we learn tomorrow?"

"Can we please start our taijutsu training, my youthful comrades? From what I can tell, you have a lot to learn! But fear not, with the Flames of Youth burning brightly inside you there is no way you cannot succed!" Lee cheered loudly, pumping his fist in the air.

The rest of the Twelve sweat-dropped, but agreed. They were suprised that he had managed to not ask for his lesson to be next earlier - sometimes, he could be as impatient as Naruto. They agreed to meet at the usual time and were dismissed.

The blond teacher himself though didn't go home. Instead, he went to the Gates and to an irritatebly looking Izumo and Kotetsu. However, he didn't know that Hinata was following him. The girl saw that he hadn't been heading towards his home.

"Hey, Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san," Naruto started, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Listen, that thing earlier was because of me. I would like to apologise for it and clean up. It was just for training."

"Save it, Naruto," Izumo said, smiling knowingly, "Everyone in the village knows of the infamous Konoha Twelve and there was an information leak that your training was based on helping each other out. You haven't done any pranks ever since you became a genin, plus they were usually something grand, not just spicy cookies and glued water bottle."

"We talked about it and figured out that this was probably your way of teaching. We know you used to suck at theory and wouldn't be able to explain anything, so you were probably going to show them what you meant," Kotetsu added.

"Still, I'll clean up around here. I've done pranks at you guys before and I think that it's time to take responsibility."

Kotetsu whistled, "Really, now? Are you trying to impress someone?" Izumo wiggled his eyebrows knowingly.

Naruto suddenly looked beet-rot red, but said nothing.

"So, is it Sakura?" Izumo asked.

The blond just shook his head - he thought of her as a sister.

The two other shrugged, "Very well then, we might as well leave you 'take responsibility' or whatever," Kotetsu said, coming out of the booth. Izumo followed him, "Bye."

Naruto was left alone (or so he thought) and decided to start cleaning. Just then did Hinata decide to come out of the shadows.

"Hey, N-Naruto-kun, d-do you want help?"

He looked at her, suprised, but nodded. The two started cleaning up the crumbled cookies. Hinata wondered who the girl Naruto liked was. She hoped that they would be happy together, even if it wasn't her. They tried to reach out for the same cookie and banged their heads together. Both yelped in pain, rubbing their foreheads.

"Hinata-chan, are you okay?" Naruto muttered. She nodded.

"You know, we're almost finished. Would you like to come with me for some ramen?" the blond used his foxy grin.

"Y-Yes, that would be n-nice," Hinata replied, blushing furiously.

The two quickly finished and left for the ramen bar, Naruto telling Hinata about one of his pranks. Neither of them noticed the smugly grinning Izumo and Kotetsu, who both thought that the Hyūga heiress was a nice catch indeed. They vowed to protect the two genin of the warth of the Hyūga clan at all cost. Hiashi was not going to be pleased when he learned about it.

* * *

Omake: Personal Training #1

"Naruto, where have you been?" Tenten asked the late blond. He was supposed to be meeting with her ten minutes ago. He looked red and for some reason, he became redder when he answered her question.

"Well, I had lunch with Hinata-chan."

Tenten raised her eyebrows. She concluded to herself that maybe the blond wasn't such an idiot after all.

"Okay then, let's resume from where we started," the brown haired girl smiled, "Storage seals. You are actually learning fast. I thought that the theory was going to take us way longer, but you got the concepts really fast. However, your writting still sucks."

The blond huffed and Tenten laughed. Soon, he joined her. Jiraiya was watching them from a distance and smiled a little. Then, he left his students to their lesson.

* * *

"Okay Sasuke, one more time," Kakashi said and waited for the Uchiha to make the hand signs for the **Raiton** jutsu he was learning.

The copy-nin knew of the excercise that Sakura had gave Sasuke and actually found it quite useful. It was challenging for the Uchiha. Kakashi had taught him the basics in order for him to learn the **Chidori** , but only in theory. Plus, it was different than other **Raiton** techniques.

Currently, the jutsu was performed in an average level, but Sasuke didn't seem to appreciate the fact. Kakashi smirked and pulled his book out. It was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

Sakura was working her shift at the hospital when a boy came.

It had a twisted ankle and Tsunade decided to test her skills up to date. She had barely started studying the human body, but she read a lot at home and had a good enough idea of what to do. The boy had traces of tears under his eyes. Sakura opted to be careful.

The pinkette gently got the kid's leg and put her hands on the ankle. The boy squirmed a bit. She started infusing her chakra, healing the ankle. The boy bravely said nothing and although Sakura was trying to make it hurt less, she knew that it was still rather painful. After she was done, she got her bag and searched in it. She had some strawberry flavored candy and she gave the boy. He looked at her, wide-eyed, and she smiled at him. He smiled and hugged her. After that, his mom thanked her and they both left.

Tsunade had been there the whole time and she congratulated Sakura. After her shift was done, the kunoichi went home, glad.

* * *

A/N: Hello!

This chapter was supposed to come up earlier, but I've been out with friends the last few days. However, tonight I'm planning to write a lot. The next chapter is already finished, but I want to write the ones after that.

The Omake was pretty long. What do you think about it? Also, I am fully aware that fūinjutsu is a very complicated art, but Tenten has been tutoring Naruto for a week. I think that he would catch up on the theory pretty quickly.

Anyway, until next time and reviews are always welcomed. :)


	12. Taijutsu of Youth

After Lee had met his teacher for the first time, his second goal in life had become being one himself.

Gai-sensei had taught him the most important lessons in his life - lessons of hard work, of becoming stronger physically and mentally. More importantly, he was the first person who actually believed in him, who had given him devotion and father-like guidance. Who had taught him the Power of Youth!

Most people thought that Lee and his teacher were strange, but it was just how they were. Sasuke and Naruto's friendship was strange too, for example. But then again, so was Lee and Neji's. Despite the fact that he had often offended him in the beginning, Neji had gradually warmed up to him and after his fight with Naruto during the Chunin Exams, the process had only speeded itself further. And although that Neji was closer with Tenten, Lee knew that it was a different kind of relationship.

Anyway, Lee planned that after he retired from his ninja carrier, he would be a teacher, someone who spread the Fires of Youth. A guidian, a protector, a friend. He may even find a girl and marry her. Lee's crush on Sakura wasn't serious; he knew that it would pass, eventually, and it had already started. He was trully grateful for her friendship and support, though.

He knew that most of the Twelve wouldn't be able to keep up with his training regimen. Naruto might, due to his insanely large stamina. Sasuke and Neji too, the first due to the fact that he had already copied his moves and the second because he was somewhat used to it. Even then, Lee planned to take it easy and gradually upgrade the training methods. Same went for the rest. He knew that he would have to push some of them farther - taijutsu would be more of their speciality. Sasuke, Neji and Kiba were some of them. Sakura and Naruto had a great lack of skill in that area, but Lee saw potential. They would just have to start from the beginning and advance further. Hinata would have her unique taijutsu style, so Lee planned on to make her normal taijutsu above average. Tenten would have to reach at least average, seeing as her fighting style was mid to long-ranged. If she was caught in close range, she would need to be able to fight off her opponent. Same with Shino.

Lee was more worried about Team Ten. Shikamaru and Ino were long to mid-range fighters and lacked taijutsu skill. Even with the infamous Ino-Shika-Chō formation they would still be vulnerable. Chōji's taijutsu went as far as his clan's. Lee knew that he had to eat a lot in order to be able to use it, so he would aim to train his muscles and reflexes. The green-clad ninja wanted to bring them to at least an average level.

Lee knew that not all of them would meet his expectations, but that was okay. Like Tsunade said, everyone would have a weak point and it was up to the rest of the team to cover for it. And the boy was nothing if not determined to make sure that everyone reaches it's full potential.

* * *

Lee came to Training Ground 27 hours before the others to do his morning exercises. It consisted of three laps around the village (an exercise for time; he managed to beat his record by two seconds), three hundred sit-ups and four hundred push-ups. After that, he took his time to plan the others' exercises. The rest of the Twelve slowly arrived, all ready for whatever Lee had decided to put them through.

The teacher for the day looked at his students.

"Alright! Everyone, I hope that you have all embraced your Power of Youth, for today it shall increase! Even though some of you will probably not become proficient in taijutsu, fear not! I shall bring each and every one of you to at least an average level and if I don't I will run twenty laps around the village in different styles!"

Lee beamed and the others said nothing. Some of them sweat dropped, though.

Okay, maybe most of them.

Make that all.

They were all tested on basic skills. It took some time to correct their forms and once they were finished, made five laps around the Training Ground, twenty push-ups and sixty sit-ups. After that, they again gathered in a circle.

"Alright, everyone," started their enthusiastic teacher, "As I said earlier, I know that not all of you will become proficient in taijutsu. However, there is one thing I can do - I can help you develop a fighting style.

Some clans in Konoha, like the Hyūgas, Uchihas, Akimichis, etc., have their own fighting styles. However, each style is entirely individual and, if developed correctly, it could help you a lot in battle, even if the enemy is stronger than you.

If you are in a clan with a unique style, then you are really lucky. That doesn't mean that someone who had targeted you won't know about the clan's style, though. That's why you need to add something completely individual. Changing some forms, performing steps in a different way, etc. There are many ways. You just need to find the ones that suit you and learn how to use them correctly.

Now, there are some people here - I, Tenten and Sakura - who aren't from clans. However, the major part of our group has clan children in it and most clans have their own taijutsu styles and secrets. I suggest that you study some clan scrolls, research different styles and mix everything into your own unique style!

As for normal taijutsu styles, now I am going to give you a lecture, so listen closely, everyone!"

Lee beamed at his students and the rest of the Twelve suddenly realized how good his enthusiasm was for that kind of things. Sometimes, their senseis would disappoint them in terms of providing knowledge and then there was Lee, who was willing to help even the more unwilling people. It wasn't like that in the rest of the lessons - they were focused on giving advice and somewhat providing moral support, while Lee's balanced both perfectly. He caught their attention again, beginning his lecture.

"Now, there are two main styles - **Strong** and **Gentle Fist**.

 **Strong Fist** is both an 'external' and 'hard' style.

It is external, because it is characterised by the focus on fast, explosive movements and developing the practitioner's physical strength and agility. Training regimes for external styles focus around muscular power, speed and application, developing the user's muscle memory and their stamina, building it all up to the desired 'hard' physical level for real combat.

The style is also 'hard' because it is characterised by its approach by intercepting and countering an opponent's incoming force with equal and/or greater force: In these styles, the practitioner either directly blocks the incoming attack with an attack of their own or by cutting through the attack at an angle. These styles rely on external power; in the case of a **Strong Fist** practitioner, it is the user's superior strength and physical conditioning, that creates success. The practitioner fights head-on offensively, and their offence becomes their defence.

The second style, the **Jūken** , is both 'internal' and 'soft'.

It is 'internal', because it puts an emphasis on the use of the practitioner's mind to coordinate the leverage of the relaxed body, (as opposed to the use of brute strength,) and the internal development, circulation, and expression of their chakra. A practitioner of a internal style understands that an opponent is only as strong as their weakest joint. Training regimes for internal styles include meditation and exercising control over their internal chakra flow.

Also, it is 'soft', because of its approach of receiving the aggressor's force and momentum and then directing the opponent's force, leading the attack into another direction. In these styles, the user seeks to turn their opponents own strength against them, to bring them off-balance, diffusing the energy of the incoming attack, and, in the case of the **Gentle Fist** , to take them down from the inside. A 'soft' style is less about physical strength and more about internal power. In **Gentle Fist** , the user's superior chakra control and precision is the key to their success, emphasising control and defence.

After that, the green-clad ninja showed his students some basic katas for **Strong** **Fist** style. It was harder for Hinata and Neji at first, but they were slowly getting the hang of it. The Byakugan may have been their most prized weapon, but sometimes there were people like Lee, who have the nececery speed and training to avoid it. Plus, they weren't going to master it. They just needed to become good at blocking. About an hour later everyone, besides Lee and Naruto, were exhausted. Lee was used to it and Naruto just had an enormous stamina, although he was panting, just not as heavily as the others. The teacher called it a day and announced that for the next lesson they would need to research either their clans' scrolls on taijutsu or just find their own style. If they had any questions about the scrolls they could ask him. After that, all of the students scattered, but the teacher decided to take the slow route to his home and think. It was a strange site for the Konoha citizens - usually, Maito Gai and his little copy Rock Lee could be seen running only if you were really lucky. The only way you could know that they were there was by the distinctive shouts about Youth. Other than that, the chances of seeing the duo were close to zero. That was why the site of Rock Lee, slowly walking down the street with a thoughtful expression on his face provoked two different reactions. One of the civilians, who wondered if the world was ending and started making plans for doing all the stupid but fun things they never had the chance to. And another from the shinobi, who took out their hidden cameras for emergency cases. The next day, there would be about a thousand of photos of Lee, walking down the street with a thoughtful expression.

Kakashi, who was back to the village for supplies for his next mission, was planning on making a whole album. Not that Lee noticed any of the above, though. In his thoughts, he was replaying the whole day again and again, analyzing his actions bit by bit and wondering if he did well. Was that the right thing to say? Had he reacted accordingly? Had he helped everyone? In the end, Lee decided that his first lesson had went well enough, judging by the cheers he was given. He wondered about what they were going to do the next day. It was Friday and Shikamaru had called dibs on it. After all, he didn't want his weekend to be disturbed. No one had found the need to say that Saturday would be Tenten's turn, because they were pretty sure that Shikamaru knew that, but wanted to live in the illusion for a peaceful weekend just for a day more. Or he had forgotten the number of lessons. Lee didn't know what was the more probable in that situation. After he went home, the green clad ninja decided to mentally prepare himself for the next day. He didn't know what kind of challenges the Nara could be readying for them, but he would bet his spandex that they were either going to do nothing or something that would leave them not able to think straight for the next week or so.

* * *

A/N: Hey, everyone! I had a hard time writting Lee's chapter, but Shikamaru's is ready. However, I want to stay ahead and write the one after that. I'm going to be staying with my family in a hotel by the seaside of my country, we arrived today. I have Internet acces, though, and it's only for a week. Expect updates. Anyway, was Lee in character? I didn't want to make him too enthusiastic, because I know that he takes taijutsu seriously. Credit to Narutopedia for the lecture on different styles. And lol, not only Lee is worried about Friday, though. The next chapter is actually the 13th, so I suppose that the Twelve are to be concerned. Very. Concerned. :) A review or two is always appreciated. By the way, since ten chapters ago (when I said how many R&R and fav. I have gotte for chapter one) this story has:- 22 more follows- 21 more favourites- 13 more reviews Thank you guys for the support and see you next time! :)


	13. Troublesome Friday

Nara Shikamaru was a lazy person.

Ever since the day he was born, he would always try to take life easy. Not eating his vegetables (up until he entered the ninja Academy; he wasn't stupid, he knew that he needed it), slacking from classes, sleeping during tests (and sometimes during class he would just pretend, because he wasn't stupid, he knew he needed it) and, of course, having no motivation what-so-ever to change. He had always dreamed that he would get an easy life as a shinobi - marry a woman that was not too troublesome (so far, so not good), retire early (not an option at that point in time - Tsunade and the rest of his friends and family would kill him), maybe have a kid (he needed successors, after all) (still, children were way too troublesome) and die before all of his friends and relatives. Because, honestly, he did not want to attend every single funeral of all of his closest people.

He knew that it would kill him.

Unfortunately, life just wasn't easy for Nara Shikamaru.

His generation had turned out to be...an interesting one, to say at least. Prodigies from noble clans, the unknown kid of the Yondaime (how they hadn't noticed was beyond him; it was too damn obvious), who was also the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi. Naruto was by far one of the most troublesome, if not the most troublesome, people Shikamaru had ever met.

Which brought him on the subject of the Konoha Twelve.

Now, it should be noted that most of them were the before mentioned prodigies. Uchiha Sasuke, for example, was the only survivor (because no one talked about Itachi for obvious reasons) of his clan's massacre a few years back. He had sworn revenge on his brother and it had nearly costed Neji and Choji's lives to get him back to Konoha. And honestly, Shikamaru had yet to see if it was worth it, although he could notice the changes in the boy's behavior. Courtesy mainly of Naruto and Sakura, of course.

Neji was the other prodigy in the group. He was a a member of the Branch House in the Hyūga clan and even so had managed to claim the title of a genius. Until a few months ago when Naruto had beaten him during the Chūnin Exams, he had been fate obsessed and had believed that some people were just meant to be losers their whole lives.

Neji was more proficient than his cousin Hinata, who was deemed worthless by her own father at a very young age. Lately, though, she had become better with the techniques by having a completely unique fighting style due to her Water affinity. Of course, she also had a crush on Naruto, but the blond was too dense to notice. However, the two of them had started to interact more.

Shino was from the Aburame clan and was the heir. The clan members mostly kept to themselves and were quiet by nature, but were excellent fighters. Lately, Shino had started to open up a tad bit to the others, in a strange way. Still, it was a beginning.

Inuzuka Kiba was a human with dog features - just like the rest of his clan. They were famous for their unique breed of dogs that were trained in a specific way. His dog, Akamaru, never left his side and was a loyal companion even in battle. The two were one deadly duo.

Then, of course, came Ino, Chōji and Shikamaru himself.

The three of them were from very close clans that had a history together which went back centuries. They had all been born in the same year and there was no way in hell that Shikamaru was going to be convinced that he was older than Ino just by a day because of a mere coincidince. Neither was Ino.

The Ino-Shika-Chō trio was the best form of teamwork in the shinobi system. It was based on combining techniques from all three clans in perfect sychronisation. There were various combinations and there were always created new ones. So far, Ino, Shikamaru and Chōji hadn't studied them seriously, but had a basic idea of some of the formations.

Nine out of twelve people in the Konoha Twelve were from clans. The rest were Rock Lee, Tenten and Haruno Sakura.

Rock Lee was more enthusiastic than Naruto when it came to training and more hardworking than Sasuke when it came to achieving goals. He was an orphan, taken under the wing of Maito Gai and was concentrated on becoming a splendid ninja with only taijutsu. So far, he was actually doing quite well.

Tenten was a weapon's craftsman's daughter and had probably learned how to use kunai and shuriken before any of them. She had basic knowledge of fūinjutsu (nothing beyond Storage Scrolls and such) and had a unique fighting style. She sealed weapons in different combinations in seals, inserted chakra and made them appear whenever she wanted them to. She also knew how to wield a good part of them, if not most.

Haruno Sakura was a daughter or merchants and had come to the Academy because of her hopeless crush on Uchiha Sasuke. In the beginning, she was a weak fangirl. Currently, she was learning medical ninjutsu under the best medic in the shinobi world - Senju Tsunade - and had a pretty good idea on how to fight back. She had guts and brains, Shikamaru had to give her that. She had actually managed to make a game of shōji a bit more challenging than expected. Overall, the team was asserted of people, so different yet had such a connection that it was just plainly weird.

And Shikamaru had the task to teach them about how to strategize and be able to get their asses out of any situation. How was he supposed to do that, he did not know. That was why, ten minutes before the time the Twelve had to meet, Shikamaru got into his 'thinking pose' (as Asuma liked to call it) and formed a schedule for his lessons for the next three weeks.

After all, if he gave them the work as planned, he may have even a few hours to sleep.

Little did he know that every other member of the Konoha Twelve was ready to wake him up if nececery. They all had different ways, but they were sure it would result in the Nara waking up.

The Twelve met up at their usual Training Ground, having psycologically prepared themselves for any braindamadging activity or "Who Can Wake Up Shikamaru?" contest. Some of them thought that maybe it wouldn't be that bad, but the looks on Ino and Chōji's faces were uncertain enough.

The whispers among the genin came to a halt after their teacher (who was, by a coincidince, the only chunin in the group) stood up before them. There was a moment of silence before Shikamaru sighed, murmured "Troublesome," and prepared himself.

"So, today I won't be teaching you about battle strategy, direct enemy confrontation, ambush and what not in depth, just the prime basics that every shinobi should know.

Now, it doesn't matter how smart you are or how many jutsu you can perform if you can't freely have access to your capabilities to be able to form a decent strategy. Also, you will need time to come up with one. That's why you will need something, anything, to either distract the enemy or stop them for some time while you plan your next move. A defensive type of jutsu would do the job. However, do not isolate yourself completely from the battle field, or you may not have access to it.

Now, this isn't a subject where I will teach you jutsus that you can perform in order to gain time, but there is one very common shinobi tool that you could use - smoke bombs. That way, you can confuse the enemy for a short period of time, hide, plan your next move while they search for you. You will need to be a quick thinker at that, so there are a few key rules as to how you should plan quickly and effectively.

First of all, you need to have analyzed the enemy's fighting style. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, etc., you need to be aware of what you are dealing with. Also, their weapon arsenal.

Second of all, you need to analyze your own situation the same way and find out what are your advantages and disadvantages.

Third of all, you need to be aware of your surroundings. Where are you fighting? What are the meteorological circumstances? Are there any other people with you? If so, are they enemies, subordinates, or don't have a role in the fight?

Also, remember that if you are fighting in a city or a widely populated area, be sure to move the battle scene, so that no civilian gets hurt

. After your strategy is ready, make sure that you give a signal to your subordinates (if you have any) to tell them what to do. It is highly recomended that the signal is previously arranged, so that there aren't any misunderstandings. If you manage to do the strategizing with your comrades - even better.

Which brings me to another topic: To follow or not to follow the plan.

That depends on the circumstances. If you were ambushed and the enemy is more powerful than you, you should try and retreat. If the enemy has started to counterattack you and it is not previously accounted in the plan, you shouldn't nececerally change the whole strategy, but you should use a different method to perform it. However, if the enemy has found out about your plan, then you must change it as soon as possible. Whatever the case, you should always have a plan "B" that does not nececerally involve retreating," the Nara finished, looking at the shocked and slightly confused faces of his "students". He gave them some time to swallow the whole information. After that, he announced the excercise for the day.

"Now we are going to play a simple game called "Roleplay". We will split up in groups of two. After that, you are going to imagine a battle scene. The fight is taking place in this meadow, in these weather conditions, meaning it is sunny and bright. One of the two players will start, saying what attack they are going to use. The other one will try to evade it and counterattack. The winner will be the one that manages to "check mate" his opponent. Don't use moves that you can't really use and don't dodge attacks that are impossible to evade. Answer quickly and make sure to be effective. This is just a game and a real battle between the two probably won't play out the same way. The pairs will be..."

"Hold it, lazy ass!"

The Konoha Twelve shifted their attention to a group of girls. Ino, Sakura and Sasuke recognized some of them instantly and paled visibly, while Tenten, Neji and Lee - the others. For the rest of the group it took a few seconds to realize who those females were. Sasuke and Neji's _fangirls_.

After both of the prodigies had graduated, they hadn't seen their fans as often because of missions, the Chunin Exam and such. But there they were - looking as infinite in number as ever - and smiling somewhat evilly.

"Sasuke-kun, Neji-kun, since the world is ending, we have decided to unite and free you from those sluts around you, so that we can spend one night, together!" the lead girl said. Sasuke and Neji recognized her - she was Jūi, the biggest stalker and fangirl of them all. They had been chased for years because of her and had actually caught glimpses of each other while running away. After the Chunin Exams they had heard that she had moved to Suna and after silently praying for Gaara's sake, they had danced for about an hour together.

Ino and Sakura, of course, knew her too. She had been in the year after them and had gathered all the fangirls together once. That was before both girls had become such. They were ashamed of their behavior and quietly moved to the back to start forming a plan. They nudged Shikamaru to help.

"Why do you think that the world is ending?" asked Tenten after snapping out of her shock.

Jūi narrowed her eyes at her. She had never liked Tenten, ever since they were kids. She would always warn Neji whenever they were planning to atta-ah, get him and give him infinite amounts of kisses and hugs. Jūi was also sure that she had brainwashed Neji into liking her, for he was looking at her all the time.

"Why, because this ugly drop-out here," she pointed at Lee, "was happily walking yesterday. Either the world was ending or the aliens had cloned him. And we all know that aliens don't exist, don't we, girls?"

A chorus of approval was heard and the Twelve sweat-dropped. They would've laughed at the girls' stupidity if it weren't for the fact that they were that many. Ino and Sakura were wondering if they had really been that bad. They decided that they hadn't. They had rarely united with the other Sasuke fangirls, because their contest to win his heart had been more of a personal thing. They had never gone with the others on planned attacks. Sure, they had stalked him, but even that had come to a halt after they had officially became genin. They snapped out of their thoughts and continued planning with Shikamaru. The longer Jūi talked, the better. They were almost done with the plan anyway.

"Hey, leave Bushy Brows alone!"

"Naruto, not exactly helping."

"At least I tried."

"Well, well, if it isn't the demon brat himself," Jūi narrowed her eyes again. She was starting to look like she couldn't see and Naruto almost burst out laughing. She looked ridiculous, despite the fact that she was going for a scary effect. After all, they were ninja, they weren't scared by mere glares.

Except for Orochimaru's, but his glares were another story entirely.

"What a colorful group you all are! Neji-kun, Sasuke-kun, I cannot even begin to imagine what you go through every day! First, there are three ugly sluts and a shy stupid bitch," said girls looked dangerously close to breaking Jūi's neck, while Hinata was looking down. She didn't feel angry very often, but first she had insulted Naruto, then her friends.

That bitch was going down.

"Also, we have the ugly drop-out," Jūi continued to list the other members of the group with their nicknames, "the lazy ass who became a ninja just because he was from a clan, the annoying demon brat, the dog boy whose breath always smells like he's drunken water from the toilette, the creepy bug guy and, of course, mister fatass!" she finished with a gleam in her eyes.

As Jūi stopped talking, the Twelve stopped talking, moving, even breathing. Ino, Sakura and Shikamaru stopped planning. All of the boys slowly circled Chōji, who had stopped munching on his chips. The bag fell from his grasp. He looked at Jūi.

Her eyes twitched with fear.

"What," the Akimichis started quietly, but everyone was able to hear, "did you say?"

Jūi, suddenly gathering her courage again, smirked and repeated, "That you have a fat ass, fatass."

Chōji launched himself at her and it took all the guys had to restrain him. Ino hit some points in his back (Shizune had already started teaching her and she knew some things) to relax his muscles. Eventually, he gave up, picked up his bag of chips and started eating again.

But Jūi wasn't done.

"Girls, get them!" She pointed at Sasuke and Neji.

 _Shit_.

The Twelve started running with Shikamaru and Ino leading the way, Sakura after them. They were assembled in a tight group, Sasuke and Neji being in the centre.

Sakura and Ino knew the very weakness of a fangirl. They talked with Shikamaru and devised a route that would lead the girls into a trap.

They ran for about ten minutes, the girls never losing their trail, as expected, and ended up before a fountain a little bit before Konoha's market. It was a big fountain, build in memory of the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama, who had been a **Suiton** user. The Twelve stood before it, despite some protest that they kept going. Shikamaru told them that it was part of the plan and they stopped talking.

The fangirls were approaching quickly and as they were almost in front of the Twelve, the shinobi scattered, leaving the girls to fall in the fountain.

You see, every fangirl had one prime goal in her life: to impress her target. They were girls, so of course the first solution that came to mind was becoming more beautiful. Whatever it took - diets, mud baths, expenses for clothing, wearing make-up non-stop - everything to look good.

So, the one thing that fangirls were most scarred of was looking bad in their dream guy's eyes. And as the twenty fangirls rose from the water, they realized that their make-up was all over their faces, their clothes were dirty and wet because of all of the dust they had collected from the chase and the fountain. They looked terrible. They let out terrified screams.

Meanwhile, the genin and chunin were quietly returning to their safe and secure homes. They were supposed to be having a meeting afterwards, but they thought that it wouldn't hurt to miss it just one time. After all, they were together all day anyway. The meetings were more designed for the future. The shinobi knew that they wouldn't always be available to attend the lessons or teach due to missions, personal life and such. That was why, if they made it to a meeting, they would catch up. They hoped that, once Tsunade learned about what had happened, she would understand.

And she did.

Then laughed a lot at the ridiculousness of the situation.

That night, every single member of the Konoha Twelve slept with locked doors and windows.

* * *

A/N: Hello again!

This chapter was suprisingly easy to write and turned out longer.

Now, this whole "fangirl incident" wasn't made up to make fun of the real fangirls out there. I'm a fangirl myself and I don't do such things. Neither do my friends. This was just for comedy relief.

I hope it worked! :D

Anywho, next chapter is about halfway through written and right now the weather outside is bad. No beach today. I plan on doing a lot of writting and watching Naruto Shippūden. I'm now on the Konoha History Arc.

Next chapter will be up soon enough. Reviews are always appreciated and have a nice day! :)


	14. End of the Vacation

Tenten wasn't used to being teached or being a teacher.

Thorought her whole life, she had been a self-taught person. Even in the Academy when the teachers were practically watching your every step she had rarely gone for any advice. It had been one of the things that had made her and Neji friends in the beginning - both of them had preffered to train in isolation, so when they had found out that they could have good teamwork, it had been a hard time for both of them.

Most people thought that she learned how to wield weapons so good thanks to her father. And it was true, in a way - he always gave her scrolls about basic excercisess and sometimes tips, but for most of the time she trained alone.

She prided herself with her skills and was a bit reluctant to share them with the others, but reasoned with herself that her fighting style was unique enough and that the others weren't going to spend time to master that much weapons anyway. It had taken her years to reach her current level with all the free time that she had had.

Tenten was ready for her lesson. She had planned it out, sort of. If all went well, they would be done before noon, get some lunch, and then meet with Tsunade to compensate for the previous day. The Hokage had called her in the morning and had told her that there was something she wanted to speak about with the Twelve.

* * *

Most of the Twelve were very excited for Tenten's lesson.

The reason was, obviously, that they each had to learn how to use at least one weapon. It was going to be interesting. They all knew how talented Tenten was, or at least they had thought that they did, until she had listed all the weapons that she could wield. Neji and Lee had been suprised. They knew how many hours Tenten spent training her aim, speed and overall mastery with her arsenal. She still had a lot to improve on certain pieces, but she had come a long way.

In any case, all of the lessons in that week had ignited a spark in almost every person in the group. They wanted to learn more, to become stronger and achieve certain goals in life.

Sakura and Ino, for one, had felt somewhat useless in the beginning. By Saturday, they already felt like they could do something, outside of their main skills (healing and Mind-Body ninjutsu). Most of their teammates were skilled in more than one area. They finally had the chance to reach their level and maybe go beyond.

Sasuke still had the ambition to kill his brother, even with all that had happened. However, he had one new extra goal. It was to be better than him. To protect his previous people, rather than hurt them. To make his enemies admire him, rather than fear him. He had promised himself to appreciate more his closest people and everything that he had.

Naruto still had his dream to become Hokage. In the beginning, he wanted it so that he could wipe away all the hatred that was directed towards him. Meaning, an attention from a different kind. Over the years, though, it's purpose had changed, especially after the Sandaime's death. He had learned that being a Hokage meant protecting everyone in the village - his friends, family and foes alike. His list of precious people had became long enough and he was determined to protect them at all cost.

Neji had been very inspired by Naruto's speech and actions at the Chunin Exams. The blond had changed the Hyūga's vision of the world completely. Neji had decided to become stronger, not only for himself, but for his team, clan and village.

Hinata had always been inspired by Naruto's determination. She had acquariered his nindo - "Never give up", and, over the years, it had became hers as well. Because of it, she was able to continuously stand up while fighting Neji in the preliminaries. Also, her team had agreed to help her with the Hyūga techniques and after she had found the scrolls with her mother's jutsu, she had a ton of material to study and she was glad about it. She wanted to be strong - for Naruto, for herself, for everyone.

Shikamaru, although not having even half the enthusiasm of the others, was ready for it. Big responsibility was suddenly handed to him, being the only Chunin in the group, but for some reason, he was fine with it. It wasn't as troublesome as he thought it would be. It was actually kind of fun, although he would never admit it out loud.

All of the above, plus the rest of the Twelve suddenly had a new reason to fight for. Because, although slightly reluctantly, they were dragged into it together. They had new teammates with a perspective of new and long-lasting friendships and they were content about it. Together, they were ready to face everything that was to come

. But anyway, let's get back to Tenten's lesson.

The young shinobi had all gathered and Tenten was speaking.

"Mastering a weapon isn't easy. It requires a lot of practice and experience. Some of you must learn to wield at least one weapon above average and others need to be masters at it. First of all, do you have any personal prefferences? I know that Ino needs to learn how to use senbon effectively, but does anyone else have an idea on what they want to master?"

Lee raised his hand, "Tenten, I would like to know how to wield a tonfa like Gai-sensei!"

The teacher for the day nodded, "Okay, Lee. My skills with it are average, so for any advanced use you would have to train with Gai-sensei, alright?"

"Alright!"

"Anyone else?" Tenten looked at her students. Another hand was raised.

"I'd like to know how to wield a sword, only I don't know what type would suit me best," Sasuke admitted.

Tenten blinked. The Uchiha Sasuke had swallowed his pride (somewhat) and had asked her (indirectly, of course) for advice. She took a moment to contemplate her reply/answer.

"Well, it depends on what you want to use it for. Every type of sword has a slightly differing use and, furthermore, varying characteristics."

"I want a weapon that is mainly offensive, not supplementary, but it has to be able to block upcoming attacks. I don't want it to be short, more like a sword, suitable for my height."

"Hmm, the way you've put it, a chokutō is the first thing that comes to mind. It's made mainly for slashing and stabbing, but you could block with it. It comes in different sizes, but it has to be compatible with the wielder's height, if not completely then with little differences. I don't use it that often in combat, but I've been practicing with my sword skills. I'll help you with the basics and I'll give you tips on more advanced techniques," responded Tenten.

"Sounds good," approved Sasuke with a nod. He usually didn't acknowledge when people did something for him, but he had promised himself to be a better person. He could at least try to be more polite.

"Thanks, Tenten," the Uchiha muttered. Tenten heard him and stared for a moment, then she grinned and turned to the rest.

"As for everyone else, I guess we'll just have you try some weapon and see if you like it. I'll show you my arsenal - I have more than enough weapons in there, - and you'll choose something. Then, you'll try to use it under my instructions. Sasuke, Ino, Lee, you three could just pick up your weapons."

"I have senbons already, Tenten," Ino called.

"Oh, okay," said Tenten while activating the storage scroll to get the weapons out.

Her arsenal was big. Kunai, shuriken, a few types of swords, a bō staff, a bow and arrows and many more. All of them had profesionally made designes. The students looked in awe. Tenten gestured for them to try something.

Sakura wasn't planning on becoming proficient in the area anyway, so she chose a simple dagger. Hinata wasn't sure about what she wanted, so she decided to wait for the others to chose and then get something that was left.

Lee picked up a tonfa and Sasuke - a chokutō. The former also looked at the other weapons - after all, he had to master three. He tried slashing with a katana at a tree and decided that it would do for the time being. Meanwhile, Shino had chosen his weapon - tanto. He was normally a mid to long-ranged fighter and decided that a mastering a weapon, meant for short range could be useful.

Naruto chose a pair of knuckle-knives - Asuma's weapons. The man had told him that they were relatively easy to master for close-range fighters. He had showed Naruto how effective they were when one combined them with chakra. The pair of knives was slightly big on Naruto's knuckles.

Hinata was thinking hard on what she wanted. She looked at the scroll where the weapons laied again. Then, she just randomly picked up a bow and arrow. Tenten instructed her on her stance and Hinata shot at a practice target.

Bullseye.

Neji picked up a bō staff and slid his hands around it. He could see the use of it - if the enemy tried to attack him from a long distance, he could use his Earth Nature to harden the weapon and block by applying his **Kaiten**. Also, if it became harder, some serious damage could be done. Plus, Tenten seemed fond of that particular weapon. Maybe she could give him more advanced lessons.

Chōji tried on a metal armor. It wasn't exactly a weapon, but it was better than nothing. It was a little too big for him, which was suprising. It wouldn't be too long before that changed, though. The Akimichis grew fast.

Kiba chose the nunchaku. He was planning on using it mainly for defense, though. However, he could only imagine what would happen if he ignited it with his **Katon** chakra.

The last one left was Shikamaru. He looked at the remaining weapons - a few types of swords (not really his style), some he didn't know the names of and standard ninja tools. He set his eyes on the ninja wire. In an actual battle, he could use it for laying traps. If he could deceive the enemy long enough by seemingly dodging blows to move from place to place, maybe he could make good use of it.

After the Twelve were done with their choices, Tenten started instructing them on how to use the tools. It wasn't easy for some of them, but they were determined to master their weapons of choice.

When everyone was tired and it was around noon, Tenten decided to call it a day. They went to a barbeque restaurant, Team Ten's usual one, to have lunch. The owners even offered them a discount. Everyone knew of the Konoha Twelve and had high hopes for them. The shinobi filled their stomaches and headed towards the Hokage Tower. When they arrived, Tsunade was waiting for them, but she wasn't alone.

Next to her was the leader of the Aburame clan and Shino's father, Aburame Shibi. Tsunade told the Twelve to sit down, not answering the obvious question on their faces. Naruto and Kiba, who were the ones most likely to demand loudly an answer, decided to stay silent. The tension in the room was worrying even them.

"Earlier today, I received a message from the Sandaime Tsuchikage, the ruler of Iwagakure no Sato himself," Tsunade started, "It said that the Kamizuru clan, the ones that are bug users there, have found the location of the Shodaime Tsuchikage's scroll of forbidden bug hijutsu techniques. They intend to steal it. Although the clan has only three members left, they will be careful to acquier the scroll, since it is heavily guarded. They made a mistake yesterday and couldn't get it, but killed five shinobi in the meantime. The Tsuchikage is requesting our help, seeing as it was the Aburame clan that managed to stop them during the Third Shinobi World War. That's why I thereby assign you, the Konoha Twelve, the following mission: you are to go to Iwa and capture the remaining members of the clan. After that, you will turn them into the authorized shinobi.

The reason the village itself can't take care of them is because the Tsuchikage and his most trusted shinobi, namely most jōnin, are on a convention with the Earth daimyo, along with many political people. The rest haven't faced the bug users before and don't know how to act."

It took a moment for the Twelve to assimilate the information. After a minute of silence, the head of the Aburame clan spoke up.

"I realize that this mission would normally be given to at least chūnin level ninja, but if Tsunade-sama seems to have trust in you, then so will I. It is a B-rank mission, since your opponents are chūnin. Normally, Shikamaru-san would be made captain due to the fact that he is the one of highest rank, but this mission requires Shino as the leader. I will give him all the intel we have on the Kamizuru clan's techniques and you will head out tomorrow morning at around eight o'clock. I will take you three days to reach the Iwa, so prepare yourselves."

"Does everyone understand?" the shinobi nodded, "Okay then, dissmissed," Tsunade waved them off and the Twelve went to make preparations.

Shino and his father went home together, all the while discussing about the mission. It had been probably one of the longest conversations, if not the longest, they had ever had.

* * *

A/N: No, I do not have a good excuse for disappearing for two weeks.

It just happened. And I am sorry that it did.

I watched more of the Shippūden (still nowhere near finished) and I know that Tenten hadn't always fought with weapons. Still, I am going to ignore cannon once more.

In Monday I started school. I don't know if I will have enough time to update, but if I don't I'll probably edit previous chapters.

At least the filler is over. :D Let me explain why: the Kamizurus were there when Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and Shino were searching for the bikoūchu, a tracking bug that could find Sasuke. They defeated them, but here it never happened because Sasuke came back to Konoha. So I'm just going to assume that those three found it and managed to also discover where the Shodai Tsuchikage's book was. Of course, it would be guarded, but not that much - not many people would be interested in the subject or wouldn't know where it was. It's still valuable.

So once again, apologies for my disappearance and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I know that a few people were OOC, but I tried to avoid that. Still, Shino and his dad TALKING. IN MONOTOUS VOICES. ABOUT ENEMY INTEL.

Reviews are always appreciated and until next time! :)


	15. Honey Moon

It took the Konoha Twelve three days to reach Iwa.

The young shinobi were welcomed by a few chunin, who immediately took them to a secluded area near the Tsuchikage Tower. They were guided through small streets and weren't able to see much of the village itself. It seemed like the Stone ninja didn't trust them, despite being allies.

However, the Twelve were warned about it.

Tsunade had told her shinobi about Iwa's policy - to never trust any other village, even their allies, - the morning before they took off. She had also warned Naruto to lie low. The Godaime had told him that Stone didn't really trust Konoha in particular because of something that had happened during the Third Shinobi World War, involving his father. They were only calling the Hidden Leaf for help because it was their best shot. The Hokage forbid him to use his signature move - the Rasengan - and instead to try with the **Fūton** jutsu he had been practicing.

While they had been on the road, the Twelve had trained. Sakura had told them more about Nature and Shape Manipulation and chakra control. Everyone had practiced with their respective element (or other jutsu; it had depended on the mood) and Naruto had made a bet with Sasuke that he could master two Wind element jutsus in a week. He had begun to practice the first one, but had only read about the second one.

The plan had been, of course, also discussed on the road; Shino and Shikamaru had been the main strategists. They had already known that Iwa wouldn't let them near the book itself, but they needed it for the plan. They had devised the plan to some extent, but still needed some time to finish it up.

The Iwa shinobi left them alone to discuss their strategy, but Neji and Hinata could see with their Byakugan that they were spying on them in order to detect any suspicious talk and (if possible) get some information on Konoha. They probably hadn't known the rumors about the Konoha Twelve, the new "special team" of Leaf Village ninja. That meant that they didn't know much about the members, except maybe Neji, Hinata and Sasuke. They needed intel on Konoha's new generation and (if allegible) the current status of the village. Tsunade seemed to know their allies quite well.

The Twelve got ready with the preparations for their plan. The Stone ninja had warned them that the clansmen would attack on the next day, according to their intelligence, which meant that the Konoha team had a night to rest and get ready. They didn't expect to get a time range - they had either underestimated the Stone Intelligence and Torture department, or the information was false.

Shino remembered what his father had told him three days ago.

_"Although the Kamizuru's bees don't have the tracking skills of our kikaichu, they have excellent vision. During the Third Great Shinobi World War, Iwa used them not only for their combat techniques, but also for the fact that if they were strategically positioned, they would always be aware whether or not their enemies spied on them. Sometimes they even gave us false intel when they knew we where there, but they had to be very careful with that one - Konoha had and still has a big I &T department with many ways of getting information, not just by spying on specific shinobi."_

Shino waited until the Iwa Chunin went to do their tasks, sending a kikaichu with them to learn when were the book's guards' shift changes, and told his friends what he knew. Shikamaru logically assumed that they would do it tonight, because the day after the next one the Tsuchikage would be returning. Even if they failed, Ino had some knowledge about what chakra points could cause memory loss (she had brought a few scrolls Shizune had lended her) of recent events. The guards would just get in their way and if they didn't succeed with the plan they had no reason to let the Iwa nin think that there was a conspiracy against the village.

Shino's insect returned, he reported to the others and all that was left was to wait.

* * *

The Konoha Twelve took down the first two guards in less than two minutes.

They were fresh jōnin and, under normal circumstances (a real battle, not a weak support due to Naruto's **Harem no Jutsu** ), they wouldn't have won. Fortunately, they were men and ones that had read Jiraiya's book during their breaks. That was the thing that Shino's insect had to confirm - that and the shifts.

The girls (especially Tenten) were ready to go into a deep one-sided conversation about how men were perverted pigs, go through the fact that most of them were sexist and thought that women were weak and finish it up with the topic of feminism and it's importance not only to the female part of society, but to the shinobi world where seduction was a commonly used strategy for diversion, especially for assassination missions.

Tenten had an essay ready at home. She promised to show it as they entered the building near the Kage Tower where the Shodai Tsuchikage's book had been placed.

The next shift had been planned to be after half an hour, so they didn't have much time. They hid the two guards, tied them up and stuffed their mouths with two pieces of cloth that had been smeared with sleeping drugs.

Neji and Hinata **Henge-** d into the two guards and used their Byakugan under the transformation. The coast was clear for the time being. The others set up the plan. They barely managed to finish it when it was time for the next shift.

Just as Neji and Hinata were ready to take down the next guards, three figures appeared.

One of them was a woman, the other two were men. The Hyūga cousins immediately recognized the three from their pictures - they were the last remaining members of the Kamizuru clan.

Which meant that the plan was to be set in action.

The guards that had came for their shift started battling the three family members. Neji and Hinata used the moment to sneak around them and ran to the others. They saw the Hyūgas' approach and activated the plan.

Meanwhile, the Kamizurus fought with the guards. They easily beat them and headed towards the doors. Once through, the bug clan members saw the book on a glass display. They almost laughed with joy.

"Oh, look at that," the only woman cooed, "the Tsuchikage has such faith in his men! He didn't even put a security system on the inside! I told you that he was a senile old man now. But I'm sure that, once we re-establish our clan, we would have plenty of candidates to take his position. He'll just have to hang on for a little longer."

The young woman reached for the book and picked it up. The book disappeared in a puff of smoke and Naruto took its place.

"HA! IT WORKED! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR TRYING TO STEAL FROM THE TSUCHIKAGE!" the blond loudly exclaimed. He was about to laugh when a kunai pressed against his throat. Naruto gulped.

"You fool," the female Kamizuru snarled, "We've had bees watching you Konoha pests ever since you entered the village. Plus, you couldn't have fooled us with some childish tricks. Now, we have a hostage. So, come out, before I kill him."

For a minute, there was silence. Wind blew in the room through the open door and the moon shone brightly in the night sky, casting shadows on the floor. From a corner, Shikamaru stepped, holding a book, which looked exactly like the one Naruto had transformed in.

The Tsuchikage's book of hijutsu.

The three clansmen smiled as most of the Twelve stepped out, dispelling the genjutsu that had kept them hidden. The Nara slowly walked in his usual bored manner to the Kamizurus, but his face showed nothing. He gave them the book and stepped back. The oldest brother took the treasure, satisfied, and opened to look at its contents.

Only to stare at it wordlessly.

"What's wrong?" asked his sister.

"Imouto, it is empty."

"What?" yelled the only female Kamizuru, loosening her grip on Naruto for a moment. She remembered her hostage and immediately plucked the kunai into his throat.

The Shadow Clone dissolved into smoke.

Before the clansmen could realize what was going on, they were caught by Shikamaru's **Kage Mane no Jutsu.**

" **Kage Mane no Jutsu** , success. Well, that turned out to be not as troublesome as planned. You see, we knew that you would spy on us. That's why our actual plan was made outside the village and the fake one inside. After all, we had to let you know the scenario for tonight. We thought that maybe we would have more time to set things up, but everything turned out just fine. We managed to confuse your bees with a simple genjutsu, so that you wouldn't know what we were actually planning."

The man that was holding the fake book suddenly spazmed and let go of it. Chōji was next to Ino just in time to catch her. Shikamaru let go of the man's shadow. After that, the Nara genius again turned to the Kamizurus.

"Now, I suggest that you just give up. You aren't getting out of that **Shadow Bind** and **Shintenshin no Jutsu** anytime soon."

* * *

"Well, sounds like something the old geezer would do," remarked Tsunade after hearing Shikamaru's report.

He had just finished explaining how they were made to leave first thing in the morning after the attack. The Iwa nin had arrived shortly after the Konoha Twelve had caught the last three members of the Kamizuru clan. They were rather coolly congratulated for a job well done and then sent directly to their rooms. The next morning they headed straight to Konoha and yet again trained during the three-day-long journey. They would use their "Teacher to Student and vice versa" program randomly throught the days, meaning that there were about three or four teachers a day. Most of the time the Twelve chose to train with their weapons, though. While they were walking they would test them out, just to see how well they fit in their hands and get used to the unfamiliar weight. During the breaks they would train with them and Tenten would give tips on posture, offensive and defensive use, etc. The serious training had yet to start.

It was one of the reasons they didn't try out their new skills while in Iwa - they just didn't have enough training to properly use them. Also, it wasn't a smart thing to do - showing your capabilities on possible enemy ground never was. At the Chūnin Exams it was different - it was a form of war during peace time, a mere tournament for warning enemies. However, in real combat situations, it was different. You could always need a few tricks above your sleeve. And if you managed to make the enemy too aware about your strength, you could become a prisioner.

Thinking of a plan turned out to not be as hard when you had a Nara genius and a few prodigies in the group. Plus, the Aburames had provided the Twelve with plenty of intel.

As far as the bikouchu the Kamizurus had used to find the book of hijutsu, Iwa had kept it.

Tsunade handed them their payment for the mission and a bunch of papers to Shikamaru.

"What is this?" the Nara genius asked, fearing the answer.

"That is, my dear Shikamaru, the scariest thing in the world of shinobi...

...Paperwork," replied the Hokage dramatically.

Shikamaru had a look of horror on his face while the rest of the Twelve sweat-dropped.

"Baa-chan, how can some papers be the scariest thing in the whole wide world of shinobi?" Naruto asked, rubbing his head.

"BAKA," yelled the Goddaime, nearly making the blond and a few more people in the room deaf, "You said that you are going to become Hokage one day, right? Paperwork will be your worst enemy."

"But it sounds so booooring," Naruto dragged on.

"It's not just the content, it is the NUMBER. MOUNTAINS OF PAPERWORK, I TELL YOU. MOUNTAINS," Tsunade screeched and started hyperventilating. Shizune rushed to her side and started sooting her. After a minute, the Goddaime resumed her cool facáde.

"But why don't you just use **Kage Bunshin**?" asked the son of the Yondaime dumbly.

Tsunade's eye twitched. And twitched again. And again.

The Twelve slowly backed towards the door and silently walked out of it, the Hokage's murmurs of, "Clones. Could it be that easy? Is this really the ultimate solution? After all this time? Clones," gradually becoming softer and softer until they disappeared.

* * *

Omake: Snippet for Chapter Sixteen

_"October 10th. The Kyūbi attack. The day when the Yondaime, Naruto's father as of recent revelations, had fought the demon fox and had lost his and his wife, Kushina's, lives._

_Naruto's birthday._

_The leaves weren't the only change of autumn. The people of Konoha changed too."_

* * *

A/N: HELLLLLOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm sorry for the late update, but I had a writer's block and the past few weekends have been busy for me. Also, as I think I mentioned before, school started.

At any rate, I think that this chapter wasn't really good. On the border of 'Satisfactinary', in my opinion, for which I am also sorry. :/

Next chapter will be better, though :)

Also, about recent manga events. A bit of spoilers below.

Kishi, killing a ship twice the same way is just rude. Eight chapters after the couple's first even remotely romantic moment in years?

There are easier ways to kill a person.

Anywho, I don't know about you, but at this point, I don't really care about who ends with who. I still have my favourites, but I just want everyone to be HAPPY.

Important announcement: I will try and update at least once a month. That's the least I can do at this point.

That's all from me, a review or two are always welcomed and see you next time. :)


	16. Of Birthdays and Cemeteries

One month passed after the Konoha Twelve's mission to Iwagakure no Sato.

Although the Leaf Village almost never had winter (the last one had been fifteen years ago) and didn't get cold, October was a special month.

In the end of September and almost the whole of October the leaves would change color. The process was slower than in other countries, but at the same it was more beautiful to watch. The leaves would gradually get a more yellow shade of green, then an orange one, than a red one. The trees weren't synched with each other as were the leaves, so every tree was a beautiful pattern with green, yellow, red, brown and orange shades in it.

Children in the Academy would have a special lesson at that time. They would each mark a leaf with chakra (it was part of chakra control) and then monitor it throughout the whole month. It was one of the only things Naruto had been good in. His chakra had been, even at that time, so much that he had had to restrain himself while putting it in the leaf - he hadn't wanted to damadge it. It had helped his chakra control a lot.

The teachers couldn't had helped but monitor Naruto's leaf. They had been interested and a bit scared that he might put the Kyūbi's chakra in it, but nothing like that had happened. His leaf was the easiest to recognize - the one with the most chakra in it, which, to sensor ninja, at least, practically had burned with a blue flame.

What the teachers hadn't known, though, had been that Naruto had taken his leaf home after the examination and had put it between two books, in order for it to dry. Eventually, with his saved money, Naruto had bought a photo frame and put the leaf in it. It was still somewhere in his cupboard.

But the leaves' color wasn't the only thing that changed.

October 10th. The Kyūbi attack. The day when the Yondaime, Naruto's father, had fought the demon fox and had lost his and his wife Kushina's lives.

And Naruto's birthday.

And so, like the trees' colors, the people of Konoha changed too.

On Naruto's birthday there was always a festival where people would wear masks of a demon fox and honor the Yondaime's sacrifice. Usually, Naruto would lock himself in his apartment, not getting out until the next day, when things wouldn't be a lot better. Once, he had dared to take a walk along on of the busier streets, hoping he wouldn't be seen in the big crowd.

He had been.

The masks with demonic faces, the people, the little statues of the Fourth Hokage - _everyone_ and _everything_ had been staring at him. The whole street had gone quiet. Then, whispers erupted. Naruto hadn't been able to hear them, but he had had a pretty good guess about what they were.

And so he had run and had promised to himself to never make that mistake again.

But, this time, it was different.

Naruto didn't lock himself inside his apartment. Instead, he took his frog wallet, locked his living quarters and went to the Yamanaka flower shop. Ino's mum was in charge of the shop at that time and she politely welcomed Naruto. He bought two bouquets of lilies and went to the Konoha Cemetery.

It was easy enough to find his mother and father's graves. Earlier that year, the day after his graduation, when he had learned that the Kyūbi was sealed inside him, Naruto went to the cemetery, sat down and looked at the stones. He had thought about asking questions, but knew that there was no point - the dead couldn't and wouldn't answer him.

This time, though, he didn't sit down. And he just _had_ to say something. They had been gone from the world for thirteen years already! They could've been watching over him (he really hoped that they had), but nevertheless, he wanted to inform them.

"Hey, mom, dad."

The stones, of course, didn't reply.

"Until recently, I-I didn't know you were there. You have always been just the two people who have created me.

Sometimes, though, I would dream, especially when I was younger. I would imagine a life with you. Smell of baked cookies and home made ramen, a bigger apartment with more rooms, and, of course, it would be warm. Inside the house and outside - a comfortable feeling in the stomach. The world wouldn't be so cold, the hating glares would drop (they wouldn't have even been there in the first place!) - and it would be so _beautiful_. You would meet all of my friends (I would have a lot of them even before I went to the Academy), dad would teach me awesome ninjutsu and mum would send me lunch and read me bedtime stories.

With time, though, the dream began to acted thinking that if you wanted to have the respect and love of others, you needed to be strong. I wanted the world to be a warmer place for me, so I decided that by becoming Hokage, I would achieve it. But then, everything changed.

I graduated from the Academy.

I became a part of Team Seven with Sasuke, a really cold and cocky bastard, and Sakura-chan, which seemed like the most beautiful girl to me back then. I liked her, a lot. She beated me up regularly, but it was worth it - if I managed to get her attention away from Sasuke, then it was enough. She warmed up to me, eventually. And Sasuke became my best friend and rival.

Kakashi-sensei wasn't exactly a dream teacher, even though he was very strong. Still, he started to care for us and protect us.

In other words, the people from Team Seven became my new family.

After our first C-rank mission, (I will tell you the details another time) I started forming my nindo. A lot of time passed since then and now I have even more precious people, which is incredible. I will become Hokage, but not for the fame, not for myself. For the people. Because that's what a Hokage really is - a bearer of the Will of Fire, a protector of everyone, because they are all precious to him!

That is, in short, my life and rules. I don't know how I feel about you, because I never really knew you, but I've been getting bits and pieces information from Ero-sennin. Dad, I think that I understand why you did what you did, even though I haven't fully accepted it. Mom, you were born a brave shinobi and died a brave one, too.

Lastly, today it's my birthday. Thirteen years since I was born and since you died. But this year, it's different. A lot of things have changed and for the better. I just hope that maybe you are watching me from somewhere and you are at least a bit proud of me - I am trying to be good enough, I really am. And I'll keep on trying."

"You are already good enough, Naruto," the blond heard a voice from behind and jumped around, kunai ready. He lowered it almost instantly. Kakashi-sensei was there, in his usual casual manner, but his book was gone and his eyes were tired, but sparked a little.

"You probably know that the Yondaime was my sensei. I lost my father a long time ago and Minato-sensei became like a bigger brother to me. He was one of the three people who managed to get me out of my shell and was the last of them that died.

After you were born, I watched you for some time. I was wondering if I could see the incredible person that was my teacher in you, besides the blond hair and blue eyes. Initially, I was completely disappointed. You were a prankster that caused a lot of trouble to the village, who was also noisy and nosy and really annoying. Most of the things haven't changed until this day. You were more like Kushina in her wild days. I dropped my surveillance.

Later on, when you became a part of Team Seven, I discovered that you did, in fact, have something left from both him and her and it was even better. You have one of the biggest hearts in the shinobi world, Naruto. You are not that clever, but sometimes you understand people more than they understand themselves. You change hearts, flip the coin of their beliefs and decisions on the opposite side. And you do it well, at times without even trying. You inspire them to change, because you know what is worth fighting for, as someone who has experienced pain and loneliness early on.

So yes, Naruto, I think that they would be, that they _are_ proud of who you are and for what you stand in this world."

Naruto didn't know what to say. He bowed his head down. A few seconds later he started sobbing, harder and harder.

"T-Thank you, Kakashi-s-sensei," he hiccuped. The jōnin gave him an eye smile.

After a few minutes, the blond Uzumaki had stopped crying and was brushing away his final tears. His teacher gestured with his hand.

"Come on now, Naruto. It's your birthday. Let's call the others go somewhere to celebrate. I'm pretty sure that Ichiraku's has a discount offer today."

* * *

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NARUTO(-KUN/BAKA/DOBE/SAN)," shouted the other eleven members of the Konoha Twelve plus Kurenai, Asuma and Gai.

For a moment, Naruto just stood there, stunned, then his mouth turned into one of his widest smiles and he closed his eyes, fighting back tears of happiness as he grinned. A small tear fell from the corner of his eye, but no one said anything about it. He then laughed and everyone had soft smiles on their faces.

After a moment of silence, Naruto realized that he hadn't completely cleaned his apartment yet. Sure, it had been in a better condition as of lately, but that didn't say much. He looked around - everything was clean and in order and despite the fact that the place was small, everyone fit in.

Then the real party started.

First were the presents.

"Happy birthday, little bro," said Tenten while ruffling his hair. She had adopted the sisterly kind of attitude towards him a while ago, but she had never openly declared him as her brother.

Naruto almost started crying again.

He hugged her tight, which suprised her a bit, and after he let go Tenten gave him the present.

"Knuckle-knives!" the blond happily explained, trying on his new weapon. The ones he already used were just fine, but these fit his fingers better and there was something strange about the metal...

Naruto's eyes doubled.

"Is that-"

"Why, yes it is," Tenten smirked proudly. The others looked a little bit confused.

"They're made out of that metal that enables you to use your chakra and do all the cool things! They are so awesome! Thank you!" the party boy beamed. But then, Tenten got out a pack of new scrolls and ink and she was declared the best sister ever.

Next up was Hinata.

"H-happy birthday, N-Naruto-kun," she blushed a bit as she handed him his present. He smiled at her and hastily opened it.

It was a black jacket with red flames lining the bottom that kind of resembled the Hokage robes.

"It's amazing, Hinata-chan!" Naruto hugged her and she almost fainted.

Sasuke coughed behind them.

"Dobe," he smirked and the blond let go of Hinata. "Here you go," he handed him the present and walked away to make place for the others.

Meanwhile, Naruto's eyes bulged out.

A while ago, after he had declared that he wanted to surpass his father, he and Sasuke were talking.

_Flashback_

_"And how are you planning to do that? To surpass your father?" asked Sasuke._

_"Well, although he was extremely good at sealing, it wasn't exactly his speciality. I'll start from there," Naruto replied. They were laying down in a meadow, taking a short break from training. He looked up at the sky. It looked so peaceful..._

_Sasuke sighed. "Look, Dobe, I get it that you are dumb and don't have even a faint idea how to achieve your dream, so I'm going to help you out, just to make things more interesting," the Uchiha smirked for a bit, then his expression turned serious. "First of all, the Yondaime Hokage is famous for his speed and stealth. Although you are kind of stealthy, you don't use it often in combat. Then, you are loud and give your position out immediately. Also, your speed is pretty average. The Yondaime invented a jutsu that allows the user to travel with the speed of light, but even with your energy reserves, I doubt that you can use it forever. Plus, it doesn't match your style. To surpass someone, first you need to get to their level. It's the one thing you should understand before starting this."_

_"Well, then," Naruto hopped up on his feet,"I guess that I better start practicing now. I may not become as fast as him, but I'll prove that I can master the same things that he has. Then, I'll re-invent them to fit my own style. Now, Teme, help me train."_

_End of Flashback_

There, in the box, lay three tree-styled kunai.

Sasuke smirked at his best-friend's awed expression and said, "Well, you have to start from somewhere. If I leave you in the dust, you will be no competition and become even more of an idiot than you are now."

Naruto looked away from the kunai and into Sasuke's eyes, "Are you kidding me? I'll be the one leaving you in the dust, dattebayo!"

The stared at each other for a minute or so, before Sakura cleared her throat, "I guess it's my turn now."

She gave Naruto an orange wrapped package. In it were two books - one for traps and one for fūinjutsu. Sakura had chosen them specifically, so that they wouldn't be all too difficult to read. Although the blond had taken up the initiative to study books, he was still not used to it and needed an easy beginning.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan," he smiled at her honestly and gave her a quick hug. Even though he had had a crush on her for a long time, it didn't feel nearly as awkward as it should.

After that, Naruto got many different presents from everyone. Scrolls, books, weapons, ramen coupons, etc.

The Konoha Twelve and their mentors had organized everything. The adults decided to leave and have a drink (for Naruto's health and well-being, of course) and left the genin and chunin alone.

The Twelve first had lunch. A lot of discussions went around, ranging from their latest missions (Tsunade had decided to split them into teams of three-four or more as a form of bonding) to trivial things like what the fangirls had been doing (yes, they kept them monitored for obvious reasons). They laughed a lot, ate a lot (Ino made a dramatical scene about gaining weight, but it was mostly a joke) and overall, had a nice time.

Until Naruto got carried away a bit.

"You know, if I come out on the street right now, everyone will probably stare at me funnily."

The whole table went silent. The Twelve knew what their friend meant and got angry because of it. Sure, Naruto was an idiot at times, but at heart, he was a good person. And all of Konoha thought otherwise and taught their children to stay away from him and it was just unfair.

"Then why don't we go out and see for ourselves," growled Kiba. Everyone turned their heads to him. He was the only one that still regularly fought with Naruto (except Sasuke, but that was beside the point), so his suggestion suprised them a little. Still, they could understand where he was coming from. It was a challenge.

Sure enough, everyone soon agreed and Naruto had to go too. They went out and started walking along the main street, passing Ichiraku's Ramen.

"Hey, Naruto! Happy Birthday!" yelled Teuchi, making a few strangers' heads turn around. The blond grinned and waved at the ramen cook.

The Twelve continued their stroll along the street. Suprisingly, a few people looked at them, the rest just ignored them. They weren't sure why. Then, it clicked.

They were all already famous for the Iwa mission, and Naruto's reputation had become better since he graduated from the Academy, so, although the 10th of October was still a tragical day, the people of Konoha didn't blame the blond as much as they used to. They had settled down to just ignoring him, which was a big improvement. The path of acceptance after long years of hatred was a long one, but they had already started walking along it.

The Twelve went back to Naruto's apartment and stayed for the whole afternoon, up until the evening. It was funny how, after only spending a bit over a month together, they did discussions as a group. In the beginning, they would talk in groups of two or three, but not anymore. They talked together, laughed together and smiled together. It brought a sense of family.

That night, when the rest left, Naruto went early to bed. It had been a tiring day, but he was glad. It had been his best birthday with his most precious people.

He thought back to the morning, when he had visited his mother and father's graves. His question still bothered him. Would they be proud with who he was?

In the end, he decided to take Kakashi-sensei's word for it. After all, he wasn't the best teacher in the world for nothing. With that, Naruto fell peacefully asleep.

* * *

A/N: So, 'Naruto' ended.

This chapter is a special one, in honor of his birthday. Thank you for everything, Masashi Kishimoto. :,)

I worked hard on this one, I hope that you like it. The story now has over 8,000 views! I am so happy! :)

This fanfic, though, is far from ending. In fact, we are STILL in the beginning. So yeah, you're stuck with me for a while. I hope it doesn't bother you that much. :D

Also, I have a new obsession - Sword Art Online. I read the five books in 4-5 days, which is about a 1000 pages, I think.

There is nothing wrong with me. At all.

A review or two are always welcomed and see you next time. ;)


	17. The Shinobi Who Stole Christmas

The Shinobi Who Stole Christmas

"And we are only learning about this now because?" Tsunade gritted her teeth, barely containing her anger. Because of that the two jōnin that had reported to her became even more nervous. The Goddaime was a woman of passion - seeing her actually containing her anger gave the shinobi a sense of dread.

"Hokage-sama, there was an A-rank genjutsu layered around the area. I almost missed it myself," said Kurenai. Once Asuma and Kurenai had entered the prison, the kunoichi had noticed that something had been wrong. And indeed, once she had undone the jutsu, the walls had been stained with red all over, even though they couldn't see the corpses or smell anything. Kurenai had assumed that it was a genjutsu that influenced the sight and once she had dug into her memory, she had realized that it was an A-ranked genjutsu that could only be used permanently after years of mastery.

As for the reason she and Asuma had gone to the prison in the first place, it was connected to a murder in Konoha that had happened two days prior. The weird thing was that the man who had been murdered had actually been a civilian - a good man with a clean record at that. Konoha was a very peaceful village and murders of non-shinobi inhabitants were rare. Kurenai and her partner had been digging for leads on the man for days, but the only thing they could find had led them to the prison, which had just made the case a lot more complicated. And it was a week before Christmas, too - just wonderful.

It should be noted that Christmas in Konoha was celebrated as it was throughout all of the nations - as a way to spread happiness, not a religious holiday. During this time of the year, the atmosphere felt...different. Like the air was warmer, even though it was cold. It rarely snowed in Hi no Kuni, but it did get colder. However, the days before and after Christmas, almost no one would feel cold. That was how special the holiday was.

It was one of the reasons that murder during this time of the year could have a great impact on the people of Konoha. They needed to solve the case and fast it hey didn't want chaos to rise.

For the next ten or so minutes the three shinobi discussed what to do. There weren't many ninjas in the village - most of them were just about to finish their last missions for the year and wouldn't be back until the day before Christmas. True, they had few shinobi left, but they were going to take what they could get and solve the case as soon as possible.

Christmas was Chōji's favourite holiday and everyone who knew him well enough weren't even a bit suprised by that.

It was a widely known fact that the Akimichis enjoyed Christmas Eve. Some people would joke about it being due to the food and some fools would actually believe it, but most people knew the truth. The clan members were generally very nice people and during Christmas their kindness was shown even more. But to Chōji, Christmas was even more special.

When he was younger, his peers didn't understand the value of clans and so his chubbiness had caused him to be bullied. However, during Christmas, all of it would stop, even for a while. It wasn't that they would be friendly either, but they didn't bother him and that was enough. That was why Chōji grew up to appreciate Christmas - because it pulled out the good side of everyone, the hidden kindness.

That was why he had been at a loss for words the first few seconds after Asuma and Kurenai had told them about the murder cases and the prison. Then, he felt sorry for the poor human being. Who could have possibly been able to kill during the happiest time of the year?

Ino and Sasuke looked at his changing expression. Over the past months, they had both come to know the Akimichi heir and appreciated his kindness. It had a slightly childish tone to it, like a kid who didn't know how bad the world really was. And even Sasuke who was unaccustomed to this kind of behavior (his childhood had ended a long time ago) wanted to protect it, for it was Chōji's defining and strongest quality.

That also went for the rest of the Twelve, too. They had other missions, though, and most of them wouldn't be back until Christmas. Tenten and Naruto were due to be back by two days after a two-week long trip with Jiraya, though. They could use their help. Plus, one of the prisioners was Mizuki, the man who had convinced Naruto to steal the Forbidden Scroll and who had told him the truth about the seal on his belly. Chōji didn't know what Naruto's reaction to Mizuki's death would be, but if he was alive...

They had to protect their friend. He didn't have to face that man alone. Not again.

Sasuke and Ino silently nodded, following his line of thought by his face. It was amazing how close one can become to another over the course of just months. Then again, when you've known someone for years and then became close to them, it wasn't that difficult to know what they were thinking about, and Chōji was like an open book to read in general.

"So, I suppose that we should start by finding the corpses then?" asked Sasuke. Although it sounded cold-hearted and pessimistic, with the amount of blood in the prison, corpses were unavoidable and they probably weren't even cremated, for the fire would ruin the illusion. Therefore, they had to be burried somewhere.

The group of five - Chōji, Asuma, Kurenai, Ino, and Sasuke headed to the prison. After getting there, they searched the whole building, but didn't find anything. Then they started searching the region and soon found a big patch of grass that looked oddly enough. After digging for about twenty minutes, the shinobi found thirty or so people, and were disgusted by the sight.

"Who could have done this?" wondered Ino out loud, here eyes staring horrified at the mutilated bodies. They couldn't possibly identify them since their faces were mutilated too. The three genin puked on the spot. Assume and Kurenai felt queasy too.

They were in a dead end.

"What the hell is going on?" muttered Asuma loud enough for the others to hear him. They all silently agreed and stared at the corpses, wondering what their next step should be.

Kurenai noticed something.

"Hey, look at their uniforms. They still have their numbers on them. If we can find the register, we might be able to identify them."

Agreeing that it was their only option, the group of five headed back to the prison complex.

The killer stared at his target with hungry eyes, licking his lips.

Ever since Orochimaru, his master, had given him the serum, the young man had started to become more and more animal-like. His new target, a woman in her early thirties, had a husband and a child. The husband was on a business trip and the little boy was sleeping peacefully, tucked into his covers. The woman herself was reading in her bedroom.

The killer, using all the stealth he had gained throughout the years and the effects of the serum, leaped to the roof of the apartment complex where his victim lived and quietly crawled to the window. So far, the woman hadn't noticed anything. In fact, her eyes were starting to slowly close. She put her book on the night stand, turned off the lights and laid in her bed. He waited until her breathing evened and then he openned the window easily, calmly walked to the bed and slit her throat.

It was a silent, peaceful death, unlike the ones of his previous victims. Theirs were messy and lacked any elegance. Normally, he would've done the same to the woman. But something aboout her seemed so...familiar. It reminded him of his fiancè, who he still hadn't checked on. It made him nostalgic. Maybe he should visit her, he thought. After all, he could still use her help in some way. With that thought, Mizuki exited the open window, not bothering to close it, and vanished into the night with the intent to pay a visit to his fiancè, who would be found dead the very next morning.

Chōji, Ino and Sasuke were silently waiting for Asuma and Kurenai to come back from the Hokage's office.

The three were standing in front of the Hokage Mansion. It was a chilly but sunny day in Konoha. Earlier, two bodies were reported. The previous day, the five of them had matched the prisioners' numbers to the register book and had thus identified the corpses. There were three people alive and one of them was Mizuki.

Naruto, Tenten and Jiraya would be coming back the day after. The three weren't sure what the blond's reaction would be and so a discussion was born.

"What do you think will happen with Naruto?" Ino asked. Both she and Chōji looked at Sasuke, who was his best friend. He was kicking a pebble on the ground, frowning.

"Maybe...he'll have mixed emotions. Sadness, anger and somewhat fear. As far as I know, he doesn't really hate Mizuki, but he does dislike him. He'll want to help with the investigation, surely, and so would Tenten. We could use all the help we could get anyway."

"But how does he kill his victims so easily? I mean yes, sure he was a chūnin, but he was an Academy teacher. Iruka-sensei once told us that there is a risk of losing shape while being an instructor. These murders started weeks ago, but the bodies weren't much older. Do you think that he got back in shape in the small time gap between the escape and the murder?" Ino raised an interesting question.

Chōji suddenly thought of something, too. "Let's go further back. Why did he steal the Forbidden Scroll in the first place? He was just a chūnin, out of shape at that, and the scroll can only be read by a jōnin, do you think that he might have stolen it for someone?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Orochimaru."

Then, he spoke louder.

"I see. It all makes sense now. He was stealing the scroll for Orochimaru, who probably offered him power. His goal is to master all of the jutsu out there and a forbidden scroll contains all kinds of useful ones. Plus, he gets to experiment with the Cursed seal or another one of his formulas."

"But what about the murders? Why kill all these people?" Ino asked again.

At that moment, Kurenai and Asuma walked out of the Hokage Mansion and to the three genin.

Sasuke retold their discussion and the two jōnin nodded.

"We reached a similar conclusion with Tsunade-sama. What's more though, we thought of a reason behind the massacre."

Kurenai proceeded to finish the explanation.

"You see, the last time Orochimaru was here, he came for Sasuke. However, he also had plotted to destroy Konoha and nealy succeeded in doing so. Furthermore, we can assume that it is a goal of his, sort of."

"But why would that be?" asked Ino.

"Because we are the ones that have the most intel on him, we are the most familiar with him, hell, a lot of people know him personally from before he became a missing-nin.

To put it simply, we know him best and are therefore his most dangerous enemy. We are the ones that can ruin his plans for you, Sasuke. That's why if he does succeed in destroying the village, he might have a bigger chance in drawing you in" Asuma answered.

"And so, we came to the conclusion," Kurenai took from there, "that this is a very fortunate time for him to do so. He's trying to destroy the village on the inside. It's almost Christmas - the most warm and hopeful time of the year. If he manages to break Konoha's spirit, the civilian's trust in shinobi now..."

"There will be chaos," Sasuke finished. "The shinobi system will crumble, the Hokage will be taken down and in the midst of it all, some of our "allies" will attack us. The only ones who probably won't do it are Sand, but they won't help us either. They can't risk war with the other nations, not when we can't provide them with any kind of support."

There was a moment of silence in which everyone assimilated the information.

"So, what now?" Chōji turned to Asuma, "Should we investigate the previous crime scenes or wait?"

"We wait," answered Asuma. "We developed a plan with Tsunade-sama, one that has its dangers, but it's our best shot. We just have to wait until tomorrow."

Naruto blinked.

And blinked again.

When his brain was finally able to process all the information that Asuma and Kurenai had given him in the span of ten long minutes, he tried to re-organize it.

"So," he started after a minute of silence, "Mizuki killed the inmates in an entire prison, escaped from said building, made contact with Orochimaru and is trying to steal Christmas by murdering innocent people. If he succeeds in causing chaos, the whole shinobi system will be endangered and there will be a war against Hi no Kuni, a war that we wouldn't be able to win. Then, Orochimaru will whisk Sasuke away into the sunset riding on a majestic white horse -"

"Naruto."

"- brainwash him again and eventually get his body, like he's always wanted."

Naruto rubbed his temples. He wasn't the mastermind that Shikamaru was, but he wasn't meant to be anyway. The Nara, for reasons unfathomable to the rest of the Twelve, had taken their training seriously and had been training their minds for months now. They mainly discussed battle strategy, how to think like your opponent and such. Suprisingly, even the heard-headed Naruto and Kiba had gotten it with Naruto showing the prospects of being a good strategist. All of the Twelve could now form a strategy, not by their own (only Shikamaru and Shino, to a certain extent, could do that), but in discussions they did pretty well.

"Oh, also, the only plan we have is using me as bait."

"Well-"

"No worries, I'll do it. It's the best option we've got. Just tell me how we're going to make it work."

Asuma and Kurenai looked at him a little bit weirdly, "Okay then, here's the plan."

Mizuki was standing amidst the trees above Training Ground 3.

Did they take him for an idiot?

No one in their right mind would let the Kyūbi brat wander alone at nightfall, even if they _didn't_ know it was Mizuki who stood behind the murders. And he knew that they knew, because he had wanted them to. He wanted to scare the citizens of Konoha once and for all and was planning to do it by killing their most potential shinobi - The Konoha Twelve - one by one, and he was going to start with the demon himself.

But anyway, his walk was obviously a trap. If he were still a chūnin, Mizuki would have waited to see what would happen, but now he was beyond chūnin, beyond shinobi. He had evolved.

And now, he was going to attack anyway, because an opportunity wasted was a pitiful thing, and Mizuki hated pity with a passion.

He realized, of course, that they wouldn't just _let the brat wander off_. The one who was walking on the road beneath him was probably either a Kage Bunshin, or another shinobi using the Transformation technique. And so, bracing himself for any suprises, Mizuki jumped from the tree, crashing into the brat. He waited for a second for a puff of smoke that would signal a technique being used, but nothing happened.

He didn't think about it for long, though, and started fighting with the blond. He was not as bad as he had been the previous year, he had to admit. After he got over the initial shock of Mizuki's new appearance, he did a fairly good job at avoiding his punches. They rolled around on the ground until finally both stood up.

Just then, eleven other shadows appeared and Mizuki smirked. Who did they think they were, taking him headfirst like that? He was just about to make a leap for the demon brat when he realized that he couldn't move. He looked down and cursed.

 _Fūinjutsu_. _That_ was what was stopping him from moving. He could see the outlines of the scroll now. How had he missed them earlier? He was the superior one! He was one of Orochimaru's strongest servants! How could that have happened?

"Seems like we caught one of them," remarked a girl with two buns on her head as she came closer to him and asked, "Who is your partner? The one that casted the genjutsu?"

Was she underestimating him?

Mizuki snorted and replied, "What partner? I don't need one. I am superior. And I know of no genjutsu. Now, little girl, let me go so that I can tear the brat's neck. You do know who he is, don't you? Aren't you afraid of him? Because you should be. One day, he is going to snap and it is going to be the end of you."

He barely finished the last sentence when the Uchiha punched him. Hard.

After that, two jōnin came and took Mizuki away. He didn't recognize them and he didn't feel the need to. He was interrogated, asked about that genjutsu, and again replied that he knew nothing. He personally would've been thrilled at the shinobi knowing sooner than later about the massacre so that he can throw the citizens of Konoha in panic. After all, he was loyal to Orochimaru because of the power he promised and the one he gave.

After Mizuki was interrogated and transferred to the nearest prison, the Twelve gathered. There were only a few days until Christmas but none of them was feeling cheerful.

"So," Shikamaru started, "it turns out that there is another player in the game, one that Mizuki doesn't know of. We already knew that Orochimaru's underlings have freakish abilities, but Kurenai says that the genjutsu was made by an expert. She wasn't quite sure if she herself could do it. Kabuto couldn't have done it, since he's a medical ninja, and if he was just the regular peasant Orochimaru wouldn't have bothered hiding him from Mizuki. Unless...

"He knew that we were going to catch him," Sasuke quietly finished. "Maybe his original scheme wasn't for Mizuki to make full chaos around Konoha, but then again, why do it at all?"

"I think that maybe Orochimaru didn't know if Mizuki will succeed and decided not to tell him information about the genjutsu person, because if he had and we captured him, we would've known," Sakura calmly stated, "That also means that he is of value, if Orochimaru can't risk him to be exposed. So, in the end, we may actually have his left hand."

"Left hand?" Naruto frowned, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well," Sakura started, "Kabuto is his right hand, that much we know, and he is a medic-nin. Orochimaru was using him as a spy for years before the Chūnin Exam. If it weren't for it, we might not have even noticed that he was one. Orochimaru wants to learn all of the jutsu, but Medical ninjutsu and Genjutsu are tougher than most because they require a lot of control. That may be the reason why he keeps Kabuto as his right hand and this mysterious person as his left - because he'll need someone to watch and learn from."

Everyone silently mulled over Sakura's theory.

"You know," Kiba yawned, "It's getting pretty darn late. I say we call it a day and get a good sleep. It's almost Christmas, after all. Let's meet up in the afternoon and decide who is going to gift who for the present exchange, okay?"

Everyone muttered in agreement and waved goodnight. They couldn't wait for the next few days. Shinobi or not, they were still human, and like everyone in Konoha, they still loved Christmas.

Omake: What Else is New?

Orochimaru calmly waited for his guest to arrive as he thought about the recent events.

Unfortunately, Mizuki, his freshest underling, had been caught right before he could perform his biggest hit, and by his targets themselves. The original plan had been to let him kill the other eleven, get Sasuke and kill the man. But, of course, his failure was accounted for, seeing as he had only recently acquired his new body. Orochimaru didn't feel concerned about the man's failed attempt. After all, it would have been naïve to think that it could work. No, the real purpose of the plan had been-

"Orochimaru-sama, I was summoned."

-why, to introduce his _other_ new underling.

Orochimaru smiled. He was more special than Mizuki. Enough to be made his left hand. He had given the Konoha pests something to mull over, but he wasn't worried about them. After all, one couldn't defeat an enemy they knew nothing about. Furthermore, one couldn't acquire information about an enemy who wasn't supposed to be alive.

A/N: Aaaaaaaaaand cut!

Yeah, I know. This was a shitty chapter, but it had to be done.

So, I have a message: I am putting this story on a hiatus until summer. I've been procrastinating a lot lately, reason being that I have a lot of fanfic ideas, but I don't do them because I have a deadline in this one. Writing isn't really fun when you have to do it because that's what people expect from you. So yeah, I will continue this story, but I need to get some inspiration first and once again write it for not only you guys, but for myself as well. Similarly, I will start other stories. Don't worry though, I'll definitely have new chapters by summer. I may even revise it (God knows it needs it) and then I'll start posting again.

I just have one last request: if you decide to review on this one (and I'm going to ask you to do it), please, tell me what I should improve on, what I do okay, things like that. Review, or message me, but please, tell me what you think of my writing as a whole. I really need that.

So, this is it for now. I'll try to keep you updated on this story's progress from my profile (if I remember to, lol). Have a nice few months and see you next time!


	18. The Shinobi Experience

Neji burst into the meeting room of the Konoha Twelve in a foul mood.

He sat down in his usual spot and waited for his other three companions. Soon enough, they entered, looking as grim as he felt, followed by the rest of the Twelve. The girls seemed a bit jumpy, exchanging weird looks with each other. Last came Naruto, Chōji, Kiba and Lee, looking as happy as can be.

It annoyed Neji to a certain extent, but he just sighed.

The whole mission had been one big _joke._

The Hyūga prodigy involuntarily flinched at the unintended pun, giving a mental groan. The rest were already taking their seats, Shikamaru and Naruto, as always, on the two opposing head chairs.

The meeting room was in the basement of the Hokage tower and was relatively small as a result. The walls were grey, and the only furniture in the room was a long wooden table, a set of chairs around it, a white board, and a cabinet with stationery - markers, paper, etc.

After everybody sat down, there was a stiff silence, caused mainly by the gloomy mood around two-thirds of the Twelve. The rest, quickly sensing the disturbance, had decided to keep quiet and see how it goes.

"So, how did your missions go?" Sakura asked and yawned afterwards, deciding that they had to start _somewhere._

Neji's glare at nothing in particular increased.

Sakura sighed. He was actually very easy to read once you got to know him.

"Neji, would you like to tell us?"

What followed was about two minutes of silence in which Neji sarcastically asked himself about what had given away his wish to speak, and thought about five different ways of killing the pink-haired kunoichi. Deciding, eventually, that it wouldn't be worth a Sharingan-user and a Nine-tailed fox going after his ass, and that she had proven herself worthy enough to be useful in the future, Neji almost sighed again.

Maybe talking about it would make him feel better. Would make them _all_ feel better.

No, it wouldn't, but Sakura could be pretty damn persistent when she wanted to, so he deemed it safer (and a lot less annoying) to tell the story when asked for it the first time.

"If even a word about this comes out in the village, I'm killing you all."

* * *

Neji really didn't understand _why_ Tsunade had sent four people on a mission that required one.

The client had wanted a shinobi to attend something in his place and the young Hyūga really couldn't see why not only him but Sasuke, Shino, and Shikamaru were sent on the mission; although, truth be told, there wasn't anything to be done in the village. Naruto and Kiba were away on missions and so it was uncharacteristically quiet and peaceful, Lee was giving Chōji extra training in taijutsu, and the girls had their own mission, which they didn't really sound excited about.

Once they reached their final destination, though, Neji realized that Tsunade was just having a rare moment of unleashing her sense of humor, and was probably laughing her a- _hat_ out (he hoped the Fifth hadn't heard the last one; she had a keen intuition for these things, something he had learned from experience).

The client invited them to dinner, talked nice about Konoha as a whole, gave few compliments to the boys themselves, and _then_ decided to tell them the exact nature of the request.

"You see...my grandfather recently died. In his will he said that he left everything to me, but only if I didn't laugh at his funeral, which is tomorrow. I know that my cousins will try to make me laugh and they'll probably succeed, so I asked Konoha to send me someone, _anyone,_ as long as he or she had a minimal sense of humor."

Neji, Sasuke, and Shikamaru looked at Shino, who quietly accepted his fate. He had opened a bit more to them, but he still had a hard time expressing his emotions. He was perfect for the task.

They started eating and Shino proposed to taste the food first, just to check for poison. The three boys shrugged him off - he was always extremely careful like that; as soon as he tried the food, though, he started laughing like a maniac on drugs.

It was a traumatizing experience, so traumatizing that Sasuke started twitching. He had had way too many traumatizing experiences in his life and this one drove him to the edge.

He started laughing too. It was an even more insane laugh than Shino's; Neji and Shikamaru took a step away from them, deciding to give them a few minutes to calm down (and they needed a few minutes to calm _themselves_ down). They threw out Shino's meal, and, after realising that there was no other food in the house and no market in the vicinity, they quickly interrogated the servants, who had seen one of them running off right after dinner had been served. They had one of the others carefully try the rest of the dishes. When nothing happened, they were declared safe.

When Neji first took a bite out of his meal, however, his throat immediately bulged.

_Why the Hell does this have asparagus in it?_

Shikamaru looked at his fallen comrades one by one, feeling more hopeless by the second. Two had passed out from laughter, and one was on the verge of dying from shock. With the help of the hosts and his limited knowledge of healing (acquired during long visits with Sakura at the library), he managed to anchor Neji on the side of the living. However, he still suffered from a bad allergic reaction, and would be out of it, too, for a day at least.

How had everything managed to go wrong in the span of just two minutes? It was now up to Shikamaru to finish the mission, and he didn't like that, not one bit.

So, the next day, he just slept through the whole funeral, even through the part in which the "late" grandfather revealed his undeceased status. The old man was slightly disappointed in Shikamaru's lack of amusement, but he remained cheerful nevertheless.

The day after, when Neji had finally healed from his reaction, Sasuke and Shino had woken up, the four of them set off back to Konoha.

* * *

"Shino...laughing? I can't believe that," Kiba muttered, rubbing his temples that were throbbing from the image.

"I can," Naruto remarked casually. "I've seen it before."

Everyone turned and looked silently at him, waiting for an explanation.

"Let's just say that some of my more serious pranks don't get out in the open."

Suddenly, every member in the room remembered an unusual accident that had happened within their household when they were younger. They would have killed Naruto, if it weren't for the fact that he'd spill the beans. No one besides Shikamaru seemed to realise that they'd all been owned by the blond ninja, but he felt that it would be too troublesome to say anything as it would cause chaos. However, not saying anything at all would eventually cause chaos anyway.

"So, Ino, how was your job?"

Ino paled, and so did the other girls.

"It didn't go well," Tenten said slowly and rather quietly. The boys were all ears know. The girls had received a mysterious mission from Tsunade that only they could complete, and the boys hadn't been told anything about it.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, not being able to contain his curiosity.

Tenten sighed and began telling the story.

* * *

"Run that by us again, please?"

Ino had, after a beat of silence, asked Princess Fū exactly what she wanted them to do. She and her three teammates couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"I said," the Princess started again, in a patient tone, which was a polite way to subtly tell them they were idiots, "that I want you to get back a bottle of perfume that this group of mercenaries stole from me. What is so hard about that?"

"Tell us the group's name again, please?"

"Red Soil, I believe it was. I did my research beforehand to make your job easier," she told them ( _"I don't want to pay you more money than I have to."_ ). "Will you do it or not?"

"Y-yes, of course," Hinata stammered, eyes wide like a scared animal.

Mercenary groups weren't rare, but shinobi mercenary groups were because most shinobi had relatively good salaries and tended to stay loyal to their respective villages, if only for the steady income. The ones that weren't satisfied with their payment and decided to go rogue, were usually prideful, but high-class shinobi. Thus, it was rare for them to form groups because they didn't like sharing. The few cases that existed were extremely dangerous and had huge bounties on them.

Red Soil was one of them. The members were mainly from Ame and Iwa, but there were some from Suna, too. They ranged from exceptional chūnin that had simply never bothered to ace the jōnin exam, to even more dangerous and experienced jōnin.

"Um, Hime-sama?" The princess turned to Ino, "How do you expect us to find the mercenaries?"

"Well, this was originally a request to guard the perfume, but I changed it last minute. Didn't your Hokage tell you? I made sure to send her a letter, though I suppose it may have arrived too late. The bottle was stolen earlier today, so I suppose the thieves won't be impossible to track, will they?"

The four girls looked at each other. Tsunade had been really smug about the whole mission, probably thinking that it would be all about guarding a _perfume bottle,_ which was hilarious, alright, but had she known the current situation, she would have probably never sent them.

They had thought that it would be some guarding duty, seeing as they were going to meet the client in a village very near to Konoha, and they knew that the client was the Princess. They didn't know what they would be keeping safe, though.

After they asked the Princes for details on how the perfume bottle looked, she launched in an explanation about its orientally-flower scent, the peachy-pink color of the bottle that was made from the hardest glass that wouldn't break (apparently, the perfume was that precious), and that it cost a fortune for a bottle, but it was totally worth it.

At some point, the girls began nodding and muttering in understanding automatically. It was a skill they had acquired from Naruto, who sometimes had the decency to pretend to listen to the teachers in the Academy (even if he did respect Iruka a lot and tried to pay attention in his classes, his hyperactiveness only allowed so much). After thirty minutes of explanation about how beautiful the perfume smelled and how it would make her husband,Chikara, fall even more in love with her, the Princess asked the girls about their love lives. At that point, they all fled, excusing themselves with having to search for the bottle.

Surprisingly, finding a shinobi mercenary band consisting of high-class ninja was relatively easy. They hadn't really bothered to cover their tracks, and their camp was out in the open. From the smug expressions on their faces, the girls concluded they had decided to simply have fun with anyone who dared come across them. There were only four small tents, and all four shinobi were there. Luckily, after checking the Bingo Book, the girls realised that they were chūnin, and only one of them had a kekkei genkai.

What followed included some careful planning, a bit of acting on Ino and Sakura's part, some hide-and-seek on Tenten and Hinata's, an arranged argument between two of the mercenaries, a few explosions, some traps, and a few two-on-one battles (like hell were they facing them one-on-one). Eventually, the girls incapacitated the mercenaries, found the bottle of perfume, and, after dropping the shinobi off to the local authorities, took it back to princess Fū, cursing it all the way.

"Oh, thank you so much for your help," the Princess beamed at them (she had been about to send a request to another village since they were taking so long).

"Haha...it was nothing...need...sleep..." Tenten muttered rather eloquently. Then, the four girls promptly passed out, only to awaken in a carriage on their way to Konoha. They were told by the driver where the reward was, but they had to cover the expenses for travel on their own. The girls immediately asked him to stop, paid him, and asked for directions to Konoha. It was only a bit over an hour's walk, and they had regained some of their stamina, so they quickly got home, gave a report, and went on to sleep some more.

* * *

"And that's what happened," Sakura finished. "The money we had to pay for travel was quite a bit, though, and Tsunade-sama was not pleased. She made us do one extra D-ranked job to fill the gap." At that, the rest of the girls groaned, even Hinata.

"Well, it couldn't have been that bad," Neji reasoned.

"We had to catch Tora."

"...I stand corrected."

Sasuke then noticed the smiling Naruto. "How was your mission then, idiot?"

"We just had to guard some small country's feudal lord. It was actually kind of funny, seeing his reaction to Lee's youthfulness, Chōji's appetite, and Kiba and Akamaru's deep and thoughtful conversations."

"Hey, it's not like _you_ did any better, what with trying to put your Therapy no Jutsu to use. Did you really have to dig into his relationship with his daughter? He clearly wanted you out of the problem," Kiba retorted.

"Yeah, but that _did_ save us later on when it turned out they we were protecting him from his own daughter. If it weren't for my Therapy no Jutsu, we wouldn't have even been able to survive the job!"

"And what's with that, by the way? How is it that something like that _always_ happens when it's a mission with you? Like, can anyone remember a C-rank or higher mission with Naruto in which things don't get majorly fucked up?"

Sakura sighed, "You get used to it after a while. Hell, I even have a special kit for missions with Naruto."

"Anyway, way off-topic here. Why do we do these meetings anyway? To report or something? Where is baa-chan?"

"No idea. And yes, we are supposed to report," Neji clarified.

"But to who?"

"How the hell should I know? I thought it was her. Maybe she just wanted us to keep up with each other. Does it matter?"

"I just think that there are better things to do on a free day, not just sit around and complain about missions," Naruto replied, shrugging.

"...He has a point, you know," Shikamaru mused.

"Anyone up for lunch and some training afterwards?"

A chorus of approval was heard at Kiba's suggestion, and everyone filed out of the meeting room, discussing where to eat.

* * *

**A/N:** Ah, would you look at that. A new chapter! After so long! Amazing, I know. I've had this written for a long time, to be honest, but it needed some editing. And I was procrastinating on the last chapter. Yes, it all ends next time, folks. Glad to have had you with us.

Well, see you then.

\- lympus


	19. Know Your Blood

"Impossible," Tenten declared.

There were quite a lot of things that were impossible. It was, for example, completely impossible to make Neji cut his hair. It was also, in fact, impossible to make Shino go within twenty yards distance of an insect repellent (Sakura had almost sprayed him once. What happened was not quite what the Twelve had expected and something they would do everything to avoid in the future). It was impossible to ask Sasuke if tomatoes were fruit or not and not have nightmares afterward. It was impossible to make Naruto change his mind.

In the current situation, it was the last scenario that occurred.

"Naruto, these things are legendary," Tenten said, pointedly. "There is no way we could have one of them just because a client underestimated its value. The chance is one in a billion."

"Yes, but there is a chance," Naruto argued back. "And you can read the kanji yourself, sis. This is the one in a billion."

Hinata, confused due to the ongoing conversation, decided to consult her cousin. She knew she probably wouldn't get a helpful answer, but felt the natural urge to look for an explanation; who said there couldn't be two miracles in one day?

"Neji, what are they talking about?"

"Hell if I know."

One ought to have noticed the sudden change in Neji's behavior, especially when he was regarding his cousin. The polite way he talked to Hinata, if only a form of habit, occurred rarely nowadays. The reason was that Neji had started going through puberty, and some of the rage that he had been feeling towards the main family all those years had taken a stray path and was now part of a typical teen temper. It didn't help to have Naruto there either, who, albeit a good friend, had further developed his habit of annoying people into a form of entertainment. Entertaining to him, that was.

The others had started to worry that the blond may turn out to be a sadist, especially when he found out that Hinata and Shikamaru were rather ticklish. He would attack them every so often and make them beg for mercy. He preferred to do it with Hinata, though, because it wasn't so often, even these days, that she raised her voice. It had become clearer, but she was still soft-spoken, though her ideals and character had changed.

"And do you think we can use it? Look at how old the ink is - no one has for years. If we don't do it right, we could wipe a mark off, and even smudging it slightly could cause a catastrophe."

"Nothing will go wrong; we're basically experts now that the Old Pervert's been teaching us. Besides, I bet that you want to try it as much as I do. Quit the lecture and let's get to work."

At that point, Tenten sighed. He was right, after all - even if she would disagree that they weren't quite experts yet, their progress through the last few months had been great due to the rigorous training program they had going. Jiraiya knew just what exercises to give for maximum results and minimum effort. And she did want to try it out but thought that they really needed to stop and think about it.

"Excuse me, Tenten, Naruto," Shino interrupted whatever they were about to do. Over the last months, he had learned to abandon most honorifics because they were deemed unnecessary by certain people in the group. Tenten, particularly, did not like being called "chan", unless it came from someone of age eight and below. "What are you doing, exactly? And what is this scroll?"

"Yeah, you can't expect us to just go through with this without explaining anything," Kiba added. Akamaru barked in agreement from his head.

Naruto crossed his arms and smiled, face full of smug. "So, you don't know what this is? My, my, you two. You disappoint me. Class, anyone care to share what they think this is?"

Dead silence.

The blond's smile increased proportionally to Sasuke's scowl and Sakura's eye roll. Then, Tenten hit the jinchūriki on the head.

"Don't get cocky," she scoffed. "Anyway, this is a time-travel scroll. These things are the stuff of legends; some master hermit made three of them a century ago, but they all vanished - most people in the craft think they never even existed. Honestly, if Jiraiya were here, he'd be drooling."

"And how does it work?" Shikamaru asked, thoughtful. His knowledge on scrolls only covered the basics, but this seemed to have him intrigued if the furrow in his brow said anything; it only ever showed when he was exasperated or trying to figure something out.

"Well, from what the instructions say, someone has to keep the seal activated at all times. During that time another person could go back in time, but only as a "ghost" - he won't be seen, heard, or sensed in any other way. Essentially, you aren't transporting the body, but the consciousness. You could do it with a group of people, but that would take an awful lot of chakra. You can have a group of people, for example, three, send back another one of an equal number."

"And you want us to try it," Neji stated. "Without having any kind of experience with this sort of scroll at all? And knowing only what the maker of it, who may or may not have been insane, has written it would do?"

"Pretty much."

"..."

"...Naruto, I swear-"

"Hey, Tenten wants to try it too! She's just being a good girl, trying to convince herself that it would be better to wait until we get back to the village. However, knowing the hag and the council, we won't see that scroll again. Come on, guys, we all have something or someone we want to see, right? Something that the grown-ups have been hiding, something we were never told about, or someone we could never see otherwise. Anything at all, really."

Naruto, an uprising manipulator (his excuse was that it was only a natural side-effect of the Therapy Jutsu), let his last words sink in. When he thought the others had had enough time to think about it, he finished.

"This will be our one and only chance. It's now or never, guys, and I want to-"

He clamped up.

Nobody said anything for a while.

It was a sunny day. The weather in the Fire country was usually like that, with birds chirping and leaves rustling from the wind. A half-hour walk away was Konoha's first line of defense - the guards stationed would notice them and report to the Hokage. The Fifth had taken more measures regarding the security of the village than the previous one had, and that had paid off well a few times when smugglers or foreign bandits had tried to enter the premises. People still came illegally every so often, but it wasn't as easy anymore. This also meant that were they to enter the first line, everything would be over before it even started. It wasn't like they could hide a scroll that big, and the Hokage had advisors that knew scrolls well. What Naruto was saying would hold up - they would probably stash it away "for the good of Konoha should any threat arise in the future", and not let them use it, because it was convenient for them to know things the shinobi didn't. It was also dangerous because one could go back in a time before he was born, at a place where he hadn't been before, with people he had never known. It could be a valuable source of information, a weapon.

But they weren't criminals, or foreign spies, or missing-nin. They were kids who wanted to know things the grown-ups didn't tell them because it would become uncomfortable; more importantly, there were some of them who had never even seen their parents or lost them all too early.

It was a unanimous decision, really.

The Twelve decided to use the scroll by rotating in groups of three, in their original teams. Three were going to send another group back, then the former would use their turn and another would step in, and so on. They didn't have that much time since they had sent the Goddaime a message in the morning, and the road to Konoha could easily be passed completely by dusk. It was already late in the afternoon, and the sun was still laughing at them, but it was steadily headed down to the horizon.

After tossing a few coins, it was decided the order in which they would all go: Team Eight was first, followed by Team Gai, and Team Seven. Team Ten volunteered to not go back since Shikamaru estimated they wouldn't have enough time for everyone.

Team Gai powered the seal and a mist-like portal appeared before them. Team Eight went in, waving the slightly worried faces of the rest away (for all of their trust in Naruto and Tenten, they still felt intimidated by the seal), quickly going in the mist before their resolve could have the chance to waver.

* * *

Shino's mother was first. Since they didn't have control over when exactly in the individual's life they would be sent and luck had the tendency to follow the path laid out by Murphy about certain things, he warned them that they may see things that could make them sick.

They said they didn't mind.

The moment Shino stepped through the portal, he knew they were not prepared for it.

Ever since the Aburame's arrival in Konoha, various rumors had been spread. They were the most secluded clan, for all the Hyūga's cold aura of superiority and the Uchiha's arrogance.

As is common with rumors, most of those were not true.

Most of them.

Because, in every story, there is at least a grain of truth.

* * *

It was winter. Snow was falling heavily, the small icy particles weighing down on Shino as he hurried towards the small cottage in a brisk pace. His feet took him to what he knew as his nursery.

Shino went straight through the door to his nursery, not bothering to open it - a perk of being a ghost. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him.

It was already over. He did not have time to warn Hinata and Kiba before they hurried into the room, eyes immediately landing on his dead mother.

* * *

The Talk - an embarrassing event, one that brought so much awkwardness most teens felt quite uncomfortable talking to their parents shortly afterward.

When Shino had received his version of the Talk, he had been in a room with ten other kids from the Aburame clan. They were explained to, calmly and with the least amount of details, how a pregnancy went for a member of their clan.

The abridged version said this: pregnancy took an abnormal amount of energy and so mothers had to eat a lot. However, the Aburame mother-to-be also hosted a whole hive of bugs, so she normally ate more than average. The bugs fed off of her and her chakra, and offered her energy in return; thus, during pregnancy, if she wanted more energy, the hive had to eat more, because it too needed to become bigger, also in case the host wanted the child to have a hive of its own. Any attempt to add a hive post-maternally would not end well and a hive derived from the father's wouldn't work.

The clan law stated this: husbands were under obligation to feed the hive of their wives as much as they could, and had to stock up on energy in advance in order to be able to survive. Unfortunately, most of the mothers still didn't survive long after birth, even with their husband's help.

Now, when Shino had asked after class why they couldn't just ask the people of Konoha for help, the teacher had given him a tight smile and said that the procedure of chakra donation was too complicated and draining for it to be used as regularly as a pregnant Aburame wife would require it.

When Shino had casually asked Kurenai about it, several years later, she had looked at him weirdly and stated that the procedure had been perfected since the time of the Second Hokage and that it was not, in fact, complicated.

When he had brought the question to his father the same night, he had gotten a slap.

"Don't the secrets of our clan mean anything to you?" his father had asked him, his voice cold.

That was the day Shino had learned that politics would always be more important than human lives.

* * *

His mother lay next to his sleeping father. His bugs were feeding on her residual chakra after being deprived for the last nine months. Upon finishing, they would go back to their body and his father would wake up, more energized than he had been in the last year.

"Shino-kun." He turned to look at Hinata, whose lip trembled in horror. "This is..."

"Really fucked up, man," Kiba finished for her, face scrunched up in distaste.

"I am aware," Shino replied quietly. Suddenly he felt a strong urge to get as far away from the small cottage as possible and proposed they get to their next stop - Hinata's mother. The three quickly exited the infirmary, Shino barely catching his father stirring from the corner of his eye.

* * *

Hyūga Hanaka had a warm hug and an equally if not warmer smile and that was about it when it came to Hinata's memories of her. Soft, she would describe her, though she remembered little of said quality.

Of course, the things Hinata knew about her mother far exceeded the things she remembered. After one of her first lost spars against Hanabi she had distinctly heard an elder remarking how she had her mother's character, but not her fighting talent. She also remembered her father's mouth thinning out at that comment. That was still at a time when her father would personally train her. After a few more sessions that ended with more losses against Hanabi and more comments of the same kind, her father had stopped paying attention to her training and had given the task to a younger member of the Main family.

As a matter of fact, Hinata couldn't remember anybody comparing her to her mother since.

Seeing her mother again, however, gave her a basis to finally be able to understand these comparisons. She drew two conclusions: one, her mother did look a lot like her, and two, she was a hell of a fighter.

The portal had taken them amidst a training ground, to a warm spring morning. The wind was gently rustling the leaves, the river before them glistening from the sun's shine. Cherry petals were flying around, littering the green grass in white and pink. All in all, it was a quiet paradise, a pane picture, a typical spring scene with a maiden playing on a harp on the river bank.

Only, the maiden was up and sparring against the man whom Hinata knew to be her husband. They were younger, but they were unmistakably her parents. If she had to place them in a time period based on her father, she would say this was a bit before Hanabi was born, maybe a year or so.

Team Eight quietly observed the two lovers sparring. Hanaka was using her water chakra and the river to her advantage - bending and twisting it in ways Hinata could not yet do. Her Jūken was different than her father's, too; it was more like the energy was flowing through and with her body, rather than being controlled. Hiashi's movements were still quite fluid, but Hanaka's had a sort of grace to them one could see in dancing. Hiashi's movements were graceful, too, but hers were beautiful.

After a while, the two stopped and sat by the river bank, laughing and chatting, Hinata's father with a soft smile she barely remembered he had.

The Hyūga heir turned around and walked straight to the portal, whispering a silent goodbye as her teammates followed.

* * *

"Killed by some Iwa shinobi harboring a grudge after the war," his mother had said and rarely spoken of his father since. Seven-year-old Kiba didn't really know anything about his father, had never met him, and Hana wouldn't tell him anything either.

He had heard whispers from around the clan - his father had been an outsider, they said. Recently, he had even been insulted by one of his cousins about having weak blood; he was also told that he was not strong enough to be an heir. After punching that same kid in the face, he had sworn to become the best shinobi his clan had ever seen.

Hatred towards outsiders was not something new to the Inuzuka clan. There had always been a great distinction between 'us' and 'them' - everybody from the clan was part of one big pack, and the rest were perceived as foreigners, more widely thought of as potential enemies than friends. Naturally, the Hokage, especially the Third, had always tried to integrate them within the rest of the village - centralising the compound, making sure to never have more than two Inuzuka on a mission together, etcetera. The team system worked well in that regard. As a result of all of this, the 'distinction' mentality had mostly subsided, although clan members still tended to have more close friends within the compound, and rarely married outside the clan, if only to preserve the bloodline. The head of the clan, by an extension, usually married a distant cousin or, in the event that they did choose an outsider for a mate, had to go through a rigorous process to get the marriage 'approved' by the rest of the clan.

Kiba's mother, Tsume, hadn't done that. Instead, she'd had an outside affair, with the same man, twice. It couldn't really get more scandalous than that.

_(Except that it could.)_

* * *

Kiba clenched his fists.

Hinata looked at him, then at the two people before them. Her hand automatically went up to cover her gasp. Shino was quietly observing the scene before them, his eyes uncharacteristically sharp, as revealed by the lamp light streaking his glasses.

They were standing on the side of one of Konoha's most biggest streets. It appeared to be the Lantern Festival - a lamp was hung on every roof, people were happily chatting in kimonos, all going to the forest on Konoha's south border, from where they would observe thousands of lanterns going up from the Hokage mountain. The crowd was enormous, everyone fully concentrated on reaching their destination, and no one was paying any heed to the three figures standing at the entrance of a dimly-lit alley.

A stray ray of light illuminated the picture before Team Eight. A kissing couple. A young Inuzuka Tsume was easily recognisable even from the back, but more distinguishable was her partner. His headband, in particular.

Kiba turned sharply on his heel and walked away.

"Kiba-kun-"

* * *

Hana was looking at him, deadly serious, a crease between her eyebrows and terrified look in her eyes. Her hands were starting to hurt his arms.

Kiba dropped his smile, bewildered at her reaction. He had just come to tell her their mother wanted them to leave early for the clan meeting at their cousins', only to find her performing an extremely impressive (in his eight-year-old eyes) dojutsu. He had called out to her, face smiling from awe, only to see her quickly drop it, rushing to grip his arms and stare fiercely at him.

"Kiba, listen to me. You must never tell anyone you saw me do this, understood? Never mention it; forget you've even seen it."

"But, big sis-"

"No," she nearly yelled. "Never. Nobody. If you do..."

She trailed off, and her hands started to tremble. She released him, not being able to keep herself together anymore, and fell to her knees. Kiba began to feel ants crawling on his back from seeing how terrified his strong big sister had become.

"Okay," he whispered, hugging her limp form. "I promise."

* * *

Hinata glanced worriedly at Kiba as the others asked them endless questions about their journey.

They'd noticed, of course, Kiba's stormy eyes, hunched figure, and fierce but vulnerable expression and had decided to let him be. The Twelve knew that when he became like that, he tended to close up entirely, even if his face read like an open book. Getting him to share his problems was extremely hard, but needed, because he could stay in a bad mood for days. This had lead to the Twelve ultimately developing universal strategies for helping him, as well as others, through their rough times.

Hinata was the one Kiba trusted the most with such matters, followed recently by Ino and even Naruto, even though the three had drastically different approaches. Hinata would gently ask what was wrong, and with such an honest face that it was hard not to trust her good intentions; Ino would, for once, become completely serious, and patiently try to talk it out with him. Naruto, with his Therapy-no-Jutsu, tended to approach the problem head on, but not in the same way he usually did - first, he'd try to lighten up Kiba's mood, and then gradually lead to what was bothering him, not stepping back until he was told everything.

These three tended to be the 'head-therapists' of the group; they were the best at dealing with emotional matters and their unique approaches ensured that even if one didn't succeed, another surely would.

The rest had their own ways of helping. Lee used long inspirational speeches about youth to bring pack positivity. Sakura, Tenten, and Choji preferred the 'generous with attention' approach to ease the mind - hanging out, asking about training together, or sharing food, respectively. The rest - Sasuke, Shino, Neji, and Shikamaru, - were not exactly experts on emotion and felt uncomfortable in such situations. Sasuke, for what it was worth, had managed to rub off of Naruto and Sakura a bit, attempting to tie a casual conversation and make the person across comfortable. He didn't always try but, for what it was worth, every attempt counted. Shikamaru, on the other hand, would first figure out what the problem was and then secretly inject advice vaguely alluding to it in general conversation. Neji and Shino were more of the 'silent support' types.

The reason they'd all been able to find out their own ways to help Kiba (and the rest of the team if they ever needed it), was because the Inuzuka clan was a rather tumultuous one, and had been getting even more so over the past few months. They thought Kiba was spending too much time with the Twelve, too much time with Ino, in particular, and since he was in the race for being a clan heir they did not think it was appropriate. If they decided, the clan elders could even push for there to be no race and make Hana the direct ascendant. Some of his fellow clansmen had been giving him trouble about it, and a few times it had been too much.

The Twelve moved on from the topic of Team Eight's journey when they realised they were wasting precious time and set up the scroll for the next travelers - Team Gai. Tenten and Lee happily said goodbye to the rest, Neji just nodded, but all three threw once last quick glance at Kiba, who had his face hidden under his hoodie.

* * *

**A/N:** This is very late, I know, but I tried to be thorough when editing and a lot of stuff have been going on in my life lately. Don't worry, though - the last chapter is already finished, it just needs one last sweep. I hope you enjoyed this one.

\- lympus


	20. Know Your Heroes

Lee had never been angry at his parents.

Not while at the orphanage, where everyone would always make fun of him for his inability to use chakra.

Not when he'd been released from it, the day he'd become a shinobi (and, allegedly, an 'adult'). When the head of the orphanage, a sixty-year-old man, had looked dead at him over the bridge of his glasses and told him that his parents had dropped him off of their own volition. He had not been mad when the old man had explained that he'd been born prematurely and that it was the most probable reason for his underdeveloped coils. He had very nearly died as a child.

Lee had also been told about how his stressed mother had declared he could not possibly grow up without further complications, ones she apparently had not been willing to deal with.

Lee had not responded to any of that information and had simply waited patiently for the old man to sign the release documents. Once that had been done, Lee had wished the man good luck and turned to walk away, barely catching his curious, but empathetic gaze.

Lee was not impartial to the information he had heard on that day, but he felt that, with Gai-sensei in his life, it didn't matter if his parents had abandoned him or not. He had a teacher, an idol, and a father all rolled into one and he realised that it was not something a lot of people could brag about. As such, he wasn't interested in the past and decided to simply be there with Neji and Tenten, if that was alright with them and the others who would have to support their journey. Tenten explained that it wasn't so much the fact that they had to transport people back to the past but that they had to keep them there until they decided to return that made the jutsu exhausting. She and Neji said they wouldn't mind taking Lee along and Team Seven was okay to support all three of them.

Thus, the three members of Team Gai set off.

* * *

Neji, after both hearing the few details Team Eight shared about their journey and seeing Kiba's obviously terrible state of mind, had come to the conclusion that Hinata had been fortunate enough to have a happy, peaceful moment.

It seemed that luck ran in the family, in a way.

The portal had taken them to Neji's home in the compound, in his father's bedroom. It was winter - the snow seen through the window told him that much, and he could see a woman sitting on the floor, her back facing them, looking at the falling crystals. Light from the moon was streaming inside the room, and Neji made a move to go and see the woman up close before he realised there was a rather loud conversation going on in the room next to them.

"You cannot keep her here, Hizashi, it is against clan policy to-"

"-to keep the mother of my child warm? The child the clan elders insisted on?"

Neji tuned them out.

He made another move to face the woman, but his legs wouldn't move. All these years of wondering who his mother was, what she was like, seemed to be holding him back. All of his expectations acted as a restraint, preventing him from actually finding out if they were true or not.

Before he could find his resolve, his father entered, closing the door. He looked frustrated - his eyes were troubled, eyebrows creased, mouth pressed into a thin line. He stared at the woman's back for a second before letting out a sigh, the tension leaving his arms.

"I do not wish to sound ungrateful, my lord," the woman said, so quietly it took Neji a moment to realise she'd spoken at all. "However, it may have been against your interest to take me in. My cousins' house would have warmed me well enough."

Neji knew that talking back to a superior in the Hyuga clan, even one simply from the branch family, usually had awful repercussions, but his father simply sighed again, all the fight from before apparently drained out of him.

"Even though half of the compound has no heating at the moment, the main family hasn't been taking anyone in. True, your cousins' house is still warmer than nothing, but it is so crowded at the moment that it would probably be bad for both you and the baby, with all the diseases from the cold rampant. The least I could do, what with no one important enough taking in any people and leaving more space for the others, is at least make sure my family is safe."

The woman was quiet for a moment, but only a moment. "Family, my lord?"

She wasn't looking for a fight, as evidenced by her questioning voice. Neji's father threw her a glance and sat down next to her.

"Yes, family," he replied pointedly. "For what it's worth, you are the mother of my child, which makes you important to it, and that, in turn, automatically makes you important to me."

The woman hummed in response, leaning slightly onto Hizashi's arm. He let her. The couple sat quietly, watching the small ice figures dance downwards.

Neji felt strangely uncomfortable watching this scene. He'd known his mother was only a woman chosen from the clan and given to his father to bear his child. Yet, for a second, he could almost see an alternative turn of things, where they were what his father had said.

A family.

Neji walked away, leaving his parents, and the snow, fall out of his memory.

* * *

Tenten had thought she would cry if she saw her mother again.

She was right.

Tears were silently streaming down her smiling face as she observed the scene before her. It was Tenten's birthday - the three candles on the small cake told as much. The older girl watched her younger self look at her mother, who was singing and playing the violin, her favourite instrument. She always emanated some mystic power when she performed, but especially when she had her violin. Little Tenten was watching her mother with wide eyes and equally wide smile, filled with awe. Her father was leaning on the doorframe, a soft light illuminating his face as he watched his wife.

Tenten could see, out of the corner of her eye, Lee smiling at the heartwarming scene, and hear Neji hum quietly to the music. One of her biggest wishes had been to be able to watch her mother play again, because, even though they had recordings of her at home, they didn't have the same magic that she did. Tenten had known her wish was impossible, though. In the end, she supposed that word didn't really mean what she had thought it meant.

She remembered looking up to her mother as a child, even attempting to play some musical instruments. Tenten could figure them out with practice easily enough, but something was always missing whenever she performed; something her mother's music always contained, but hers lacked. Eventually, she'd reached her answer; soul. Her mother put her all into playing. Tenten couldn't, at least not with instruments. Only after singing for the first time had she found out something she could pour her heart into.

When she'd become a shinobi, she'd realised dead people couldn't be role models and so she'd set out to find a new idol, abandoning music. After finally giving up on being just like the great Tsunade, and realising that her strengths lay elsewhere, Tenten had returned to singing. Once, she'd sung around Team Gai's campfire, and afterwards she couldn't get Neji's surprised (fascinated?) expression out of her head for weeks.

Tenten realised she'd lost herself in memories only after her mother stopped playing. Just as the song ended, she could have sworn she saw the woman smiling directly at her. Then the moment was gone, and Team Gai left the happy and still whole family eating cake.

* * *

Ino sat down next to Kiba, not saying anything.

Usually, she preferred to simply pester him about whatever it was that was troubling him until he gave in and told her (it had started to take less and less effort), but Ino could feel that this time, she'd need a different approach.

She'd asked Hinata about what had happened, and the other girl had worriedly explained about the scene with his mother. Ino had immediately remembered and old conversation she'd had with Kiba, realising that the situation was probably more hurtful than it appeared. Hinata seemed to know that, too, if the glances she'd been sending their teammate had been anything to go by. Ino had assured her, quietly, that she was going to take care of him and Hinata had thanked her, eyes showing that she believed in her a surprising much.

After that, Ino had silently walked over to Kiba. He was sitting under a tree by the road, knees up, face hidden in them. He had his hood up, too. He'd started wearing it less and less over his head but had the habit of still doing so when he was vulnerable.

Ino looked at him for a bit. She knew he knew she was there, but they both didn't say a word. She hoped the silent company would soothe him enough for the time being until she got her thoughts straight and came up with a plan. She'd never been good with threading on thin ground, so what she needed was an actual spark of genius.

* * *

"So, what's your biggest wish?"

"Ah, we're getting personal now, aren't we, handsome?"

"And what if we are?"

"Hm. Well then. I want to be a beautiful cosmos."

"A beautiful what?"

"Cosmos. It's a flower term. I'll explain it in a bit. First, tell me your biggest wish."

"...It's kind of impossible."

"It's a wish, it doesn't have to be possible."

"Point. Um. My dad. I wish I could have met him."

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

"If you don't mind me asking...what happened to him?"

"He died at the hand of some Iwa shinobi after the war. That's all my mum's ever told me about him, to be honest."

"What do you mean 'only that'? No photos of him? No...no memories? Nothing?"

"That's right, princess."

"...I don't - I'm-"

"It's okay. Really, I haven't missed him in my life that much - my mum and Hana have more than made up for it. Just, you know, it would have been nice to at least have an idea of what kind of person he was. With all this mystery around him - mum doesn't talk about him at all, Hana clams up whenever I mention him...it feels like he wasn't even real. And that's beside what the rest of the clan says."

"The rest of the clan?"

"Well, that's a bit of a more complicated one."

"I have all the time in the world right now."

"Okay, then. You're still going to explain that cosmos thing, though."

"Ah, trust me, that one will most likely take longer."

"Ha, if you say so."

* * *

"Kiba."

"Yes?"

"Hinata told me what happened."

"And?"

"If you want to talk about it with somebody, I'm here. Today, tomorrow, next week, whenever, just, know that I'm here, alright?"

"...Why do you think you can help me?"

"I'm your-because I've done it before, remember? I think I can understand you."

"Understand me, eh? Since you're such an expert, then, tell me what's wrong."

"It's not about your father."

"...Excuse me? It's exactly-"

"No, it really isn't, is it? You said it yourself when we talked about our wishes that one time. You were curious about him, but you didn't miss his presence in your life because you had Hana and your mother. The two people who raised you, who you've grown to respect and love the most - it's evident by how much you talk about them. And they lie to you, treat you like a kid. The consequences are already there; your clan knows that you're an outsider's children and they're already hostile. It can't get any worse and yet they still decide to deceive you and- "

"Ino?" Kiba raised his head and looked at her, startled by the angry tone her voice had taken, and equally as surprised by how true her words rang. Her eyes seemed watery, for reasons he couldn't comprehend. She blinked, then looked down, took a shuddering breath, and let the tension leave her arms. When she raised her eyes again, they were determined.

Kiba was even more surprised. "What - why did you..."

"I just...I care about you, okay? And I can see how they have been treating you, and how it's been affecting you, and to have your mother and sister lie to you with no good reason...It's awful."

Kiba was pretty sure he was staring at her. He finally registered that this girl, this beautiful, strong, amazing girl, cared about him so much that she was angry on his behalf.

He pulled her for a hug, barely registering her startled shriek, too caught up in the moment.

"Kiba..."Ino faltered, and put his arms around him. After all of that, his name sounded somehow special, coming from her.

* * *

Choji thought that, compared to the others, his reason for wanting to travel back in the past wasn't as important. When Shikamaru had explained how they didn't have much time and that everyone should quickly decide whether they would travel, Choji had seen the glimmer in the eyes of those of his friends who had lost a parent and had decided that he was not going to get in the way of them achieving their deepest longings.

Choji's wish was also one he held very dear and had always thought of as impossible. It had started back in the Academy, while he had been bullied by the other kids. They had insulted him and, more importantly, his whole clan, saying they were a bunch of fat losers, a disgrace to the shinobi world. The words had struck him deeply and, even though he had been very sensitive at that time, his temper had started to form, and the part of him that always got angry when someone insulted his weight had made appearances in the form of wishful, rebellious thoughts. He would picture the faces of these bullies if only they could see the great heroes of his clan, who had been with Konoha from nearly the very beginning, defended the village bravely, and honoured the Akimichi name.

These thoughts had shifted, over time, from his anger to his insecurity, and he would often wish he could see these heroes himself, in order to finally believe his father's fairy tales and be able to stand up to the bullies.

Still, he didn't want his personal doubts to get in the way of the others' happiness, and so he simply sat there, munching on his crisps, seemingly nonchalant for anyone who cared to look.

* * *

Shikamaru was pretty sure he was the only one to notice.

It had only been there for a brief moment - really, only as they'd been stepping through the portal, and everyone else had been too bottled up in their own experiences, or discussing them with others, to take a proper look before the final group had greeted them - Naruto, ever so cheerful (the edge to his smile going unnoticed, too), Sakura and Sasuke trailing behind him, watching silently as he went on to talk to everyone about their journeys.

Here is what Shikamaru did make note of, though.

He made note of the fact that Naruto never said anything even slightly alluding to Team Seven's travel through the past. He asked questions and actively discussed what the others had seen, hugging Tenten and Hinata, becoming serious for a moment with Neji, and passing over a silent look onto Kiba and Ino. Since people, being people, generally liked when they were the centre of attention, especially after such heavy emotional experiences, and Naruto usually stole that role for himself, they didn't really care to see anything outside of what he showed them.

They probably didn't notice the quick glances he'd exchange with Sakura and Sasuke now and again. They probably didn't realise that the other two members of Team Seven had yet to say a word, and, had they been scrutinised closer, would have probably revealed Sasuke's closely guarded expression, as well as Sakura's nervous stance.

And, of course, everyone, even Team Gai, who had been powering the seal at that time, had turned a moment too late at Naruto's greeting to see him wiping a single tear from his eye, as well as Sakura's terribly sad face and Sasuke's distraught expression.

Shikamaru looked up at the sky. It was close to sunset, and if they didn't head back to the village soon, the Fifth would become suspicious, and Naruto would run out of words to distract the others with.

He voiced only one of these thoughts, quickly startling the others into getting ready to go home.

* * *

Tsunade rubbed her temples, feeling a migraine settling in. She itched for sake but had already called for Shizune and she would catch her immediately if she took just one sip. She decided to wait until she would be alone for good, and then drown out the world.

Just as she'd let her hands rest on the desk again, Shizune practically slammed the door open, a worried expression on her face. Tsunade's mood dropped even further when she saw who she was with.

The Konoha Council strode in, prideful as always - Homura and Koharu, calm and elegant, and Danzo, with his determined step and knowing expression.

"We happened to come across your assistant, Tsunade-sama," Danzo said, in his calm, slightly cheery voice, a smile on his lips.

Tsunade had no doubt they'd heard the news even before her and even though it was the last thing her migraine needed right now, she was going to have to deal with them. She trusted none of these three, but Danzo was especially dangerous, and his smile only grew upon seeing her weary, albeit fierce expression.

"I reckon it would be a good idea to send these children, Tsunade," Koharu started, and Tsunade could feel her head throb even worse. "They seem to have developed as quite the shinobi if their reputation is anything to go by. Much word is being spread around the Shinobi Nations about Konoha's strongest of the current generation, the Konoha Twelve."

"That may be so," Tsunade remarked, in a rather grave tone of voice, "but we must not forget who the hosts are this time. Kumo has already shown interest in taming a Tailed Beast's powers, with not great degrees of success, and I doubt they would mind another test subject. Then, there is the matter with the Hyuga family. Ever since Hinata's failed kidnap, they haven't sent any of their clan to an exam hosted by Kumo."

"That is true," Danzo remarked. Tsunade sharply turned her gaze to him and carefully observed his relaxed stature and now smug smile. "In fact, Tsunade, you are being very reasonable about this." The fake surprise in his tone led her to grit her teeth. "However, ever since the Third's death, Konoha has been desperately trying to prove that it is still strong enough to hold its place amongst the Shinobi Nations. And even though the minor disturbances at our borders have stopped and we have been taking missions outside the country to show our power again, this exam could provide the ultimate proof. Konoha's newest generation - a fearsome mix of geniuses, emerging masters, and of course, Uzumaki Naruto. If we choose to stand down now, if we do not show them that the future of Konoha rests in the hands of capable shinobi, we will appear weak, ultimately ruin whatever these children have achieved, and lose our credibility."

Danzo let his words hang in the air. Tsunade, even though she wanted to fight these words with everything she could, realised this was not a battle she could win. Power struggles she could deal with, but she would personally resign before making a fool out of herself by fighting sensible words.

She sighed. Danzo's victorious aura filled the room. Koharu and Homura seemed smug enough in their own right, and Shizune was shooting worried glances at her teacher.

"Fine," Tsunade said, dismissing the four of them. After that, she went straight for her sake bottle, and drank until she couldn't recognise her own face in the mirror.

* * *

Orochimaru looked at his companion. He was sipping his tea calmly, as if he were at a friend's house, and not currently in a secret meeting with his village's number one enemy. The sanin nearly chuckled at the thought - the person opposite him had not had any friends in a very long time.

"It is a very good opportunity, I have to admit," Orochimaru returned to the matter at hand. Danzo lowered his cup, calm expression settling into a stone mask.

Now that brought a smile.

"A very good opportunity for testing your pupil, indeed."

"He is not ready." Not an impolite answer, but said with a tone of finality.

"Oh, not too confident in your subordinate's skills, Danzo-sama?"

"Not at all, Orochimaru-dono." A slightly condescending smile played on Danzo's lips, amusing Orochimaru even more. Even after all this time, the old fool still thought he had all the cards in place. "It is fact that he cannot measure up to them as he is; in fact, he was brought to you specifically as a slightly higher-class support, nothing more. He still has much to learn. I believe that knowing more about his targets will help him, too, and as such, I would propose the match is watched closely, even by the boy himself, so that he can learn. He is a smart boy, and I am sure that with your and Kabuto-san's help, he will be able to complete the mission."

Orochimaru took a moment as if he was contemplating the words when he hadn't expected and wasn't going to tolerate any other response. "I agree," Orochimaru said, a bit of airiness to his voice. "And as for your specific request..?"

"That is the other thing." Danzo took another sip before continuing. "Uzumaki Naruto's...persuasive abilities, you may call them? They have quite the effect, I hear. I have no doubt that my pupil could cope, but I would prefer not to take the risk. And, after all, it would be quite a nuisance off your shoulders, too. Isn't that correct, Orochimaru-dono?"

The sanin didn't reply, but his smile became razor-sharp.

"He can truly be quite bothersome, that boy. And you are sure Kumo will take care of him?"

"They will certainly try. If they do not succeed, I shall lend you my Root's strength, as per our agreement."

"Yes," Orochimaru muttered, watching as his companion finished his tea, put on his Henge and exited the shop. "As per our agreement, indeed."

A chilling force could be felt in the china, and then, all was quiet.

* * *

**A/N:** And cut!

It's officially finished. Two years (spent mostly procrastinating, I must admit), and it's finally done. I honestly can't believe it.

I'd love to hear your impressions of both this chapter and the story overall. It's been fun writing it and even though I recognise that it had a lot of flaws, I'm kind of proud of it. The only way now is up, I suppose. I'm planning on fixing grammar mistakes and starting the sequel next summer, but until then, I have other projects. I hope you've gotten at least some enjoyement from reading this.

Until next time.

Lympus, out.


End file.
